


Someone New

by BNWoso



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, PREATH - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-16 17:19:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9281936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BNWoso/pseuds/BNWoso
Summary: Christen Press is a new rising soccer star, playing professionally in the NWSL for LA, she has yet to be called up to the National Team, and has a good feeling it'll happen soon. She's always been shy, yet is always under a camera lense due to her newly found success. What she's never considered though, is who happens to be behind the camera. In this case, the outgoing, photographer Tobin Heath is the one.





	1. Flash

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so the summary is a bit rubbish but I hope the story is way better... My first attempt at participating with the big guns in fanfiction. This story will start of slow so try to bear with me!

Christen's hands form a fist as she makes her way down the hall to the kitchen. The fresh smell of coffee entering her nostrils as she takes a deep breath in. This was it. This was game day. Routine was into play here- drink coffee, go for a jog on the beach and then meditate before coming back to her house. Her nerves were at an all time high knowing this was going to be the game to determine whether LA got the shield this year. 

She wants to win it so badly, but at the same time, not due to the unspeakable curse that comes along with getting the shield- no chance at winning the championship. Her thoughts have been running around in circles from her mixed emotions.

To win or not to win... Christen wonders to herself as she spots her housemate, Kelley, pouring the coffee into four coffee mugs. 

"Hey sleepyhead." Kelley smiles at her once she fully enters the kitchen. "Alyssa up yet?"

Christen shakes her head, grabbing a coffee mug before muttering out a small 'thanks' and making her way into the living room. 

After drinking her coffee along with a small pastry, she goes to change into her jogging gear to head to the beach- some tights and tank top for the warm Californian weather. It wasn't too far from her home, about a mile, good for running. 

She exits her room with iPod and headphones in hand. Kelley and now Alyssa watching from the living room in amusement as they see her struggle with her tangled headphones.

"Need some help?" Alyssa offers as she sets her coffee mug down on the coffee table.

Christen sighs in defeat, walking and handing over the tangled mess.

"Must symbolize my life." Christen giggles at Kelley's remark to her headphones. Christen in the meantime trying to get her left shoe on.

After a few more tugs, the tangle mess is no more. Alyssa takes the freedom to plug them into the iPod as Christen finally gets up from the floor. Her orange Nike shoes squeaking on the wooden floor.

"Thanks." She says, retrieving her iPod from her friend and making her way towards the door.  
"Don't let Alex sleep in too long!" 

"We won't!" Alyssa and Kelley yell out at the same time, just before Christen steps out and closes the door behind her. She quickly puts the iPod on shuffle and the earbuds into her ears. She starts her jog towards the beach.

It was quite hot for a September afternoon. The warm Californian breeze hits her face as 'Don't let me down' by the chainsmokers plays. Her entire playlist is very unorganized. It goes from soft music to pump up music, but she likes the balance of it all.

After ten minutes, she's at the beach. Sure, this was a lot more time than her regular mile, but she needed to take a step back for game day. Her eyes search around the small beach, only a few people linger around the beach. 

As much as she expected, her eyes land on a girl with a bun sitting on a beach towel.She grins and walks over. 

"Hey." Christen smiles, taking her headphones out and putting them away. "Got an extra towel?"

The girl lifts her sunglasses off her head and gives her a grin that could blind anybody with perfect teeth. 

"For you? Always chickadee." The girl reaches into a bag next to her to retrieve a towel and hand it to Christen.

"Thanks Ali." Christen replies with an even wider grin. Thanks to her, Christen didn't have to drag around a backpack on her back every morning she came to the beach since she knew Ali would be there, most likely watching her own girlfriend surf.

Once she settled, she scans the beach a bit more.

"So where's Ash?" Christen said while rummaging through Ali's bag for sunscreen. She finds it and starts applying it to her exposed arms and back.

Ali points to her right. Christen follows her finger to find who she can only assume is Ashlyn dragging her board behind her. A smaller figure walks with her, making their way to her and Ali.   
Christen can't get a good look at the person, due to the sun blinding her eyes and the distance, but before she can even scan the figure more, the person turns and starts walking away from the beach in the opposite direction.

Once Ashlyn waves goodbye to the person, she jogs all the way back to where Ali and Christen sit.

She sets her board down in front of them, pulling her blonde hair into a ponytail before leaning down and planting a kiss on Ali's forehead.

"Hey babe," she then turns to Christen, "Hey chris." 

"Hey. Have a good surf?" Christen says as Ali takes some fruit out from the bag. She hands it to Ashlyn who takes a seat next to her in the towel. 

"Mhmm." She nods, taking a bite from an apple.   
"My friends just moved here. One is opening up a coffeeshop in the downtown we love so much. The other is a photographer, she just finished taking pictures of me this session so I had to take it easy on her." 

This made the girls giggle. After small talk, Christen starts her yoga as the couple heads off down the beach to have some alone time. 

Christen's head starts to wonder off as it usually does when she see's two of her best friends being all lovey-dovey. It wonders to a place she always keeps closed off.   
Love. She can't help but think how nice it would be to have something warm to wrap her arms around at night. She can't help but think how nice it would be to be called beautiful in a way that brings blush into her cheeks and neck. She can't help but think about finding a nice house in the suburbs and raising children with a dog and that special someone playing in the front yard. 

She can't help but to think of all those things that are out of reach. She knows this, and she chose this. The possibility of her getting transferred to a different club in a heartbeat or being called up into the national team is high at this point. With all the traveling a national team does, she doesn't think a relationship would work. So, she closes that love door in her mind. She would never want to waste anybody's time or her own. Instead, she focuses on her only passion- soccer, and so far, it's been enough.

Plus, it's not like anybody has ever made Christen's heart flutter at an odd rate. Which, she's grateful for, because if it were to happen, she doesn't know what she would do.

 

\--------

"Alright, ready to kick some ass out there Chris?" Alex bumps her shoulders as they finished getting ready in the locker room. "I sure as hell am."

Christen chuckles at this, "Says the one who didn't even manage to get up before noon. Surprised you even showed up Lex."

Alex gasps at this and nudges Christen harder this time, "Well excuse me for not getting up at the ass crack of dawn." 

"It's not the ass crack. I got up at 9!" Christen claps back. 

"Whatever!" Alex rolls her eyes as Kelley makes her way over to the two gals. 

"Less talk, more walk ladies." Kelley pushes past them to head to the tunnel. The two girls follow their teammate and start lining up for the game. 

\----

The score is LA 1-0 Portland. The halftime whistle blows as they make their way to the bench.

"Jeez. They're really putting up a fight this year." Alyssa says taking a big gulp of her water bottle. Christen nods along, taking a small sip from her own. 

"I've had to block way more shots than ever... Especially since someone-" she looks over at Kelley, "decided to slide tackle knowing the player would just cut them off."

"Hey!" Kelley puts her hands up in self-defense. "I was doing what I thought was right."

"I can't believe you're the head of the back line." Alex rolls her eyes. Christen just watched the whole thing unravel.

"Whoa whoa. What's up with baby horse over her attacking me now?!" 

"Alright alright that's enough." Their coach comes up and tell everyone to gather around. He gives a speech basically stating that just because they're ahead, doesn't mean they can slack off. They have to bring it even harder than last halftime. 

Once they're back in, they play their little hearts off. Everyone regains confidence as they spend more and more time on their opponents side rather than their own. 

Kelley sends a great ball to christen's feet who decides to play it up the left sideline, going wide. She searches frantically for Alex inside the box to make a great cross. 

She spots her, but a defender makes her way over to Christen, attempting to get the ball away. Christen grins, up for the challenge to make a defender look ridiculous. She switches the ball between her feet in an attempt to fool her. The defender doesn't budge so Christen turns her back and faces the bleachers. At least maybe she could make a throw-in happen. 

She sticks her butt out waiting for the moment the defender strides so she could be nutmegged.

Just as she was about to do it. A big flash blinds her for a few moments and the ball is no longer at her feet. 

She angrily looks up to find a person with beanie and zip up hoodie examining a camera, halfway turned away from Christen. 

Christen wanted to scream at the person. Wanted to know what the hell was their problem and if they didn't know the no-flash photography rule since the stadium was already very lit up like hell. She only spotted a pair of glasses on the face and dirty blonde hair peaking out of the beanie before she had to race back to midfield. She didn't have time to examine the idiot, she just hoped she never saw them again. 

 

\---------

The game ended with a score of 1-0. They had done it. They had the shield for the season and Christen couldn't be more happier than in that moment.

The team was in a clustered ball, jumping up and down from their victory and chanting as they made their way into the locker room. 

Christen quickly took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. She searched the locker room for kelley- they were going to ride back to the house together. 

Quickly she spotted her, along with Alex and Alyssa who were gathered around Ali. She made her way over and budged through them to be a part of the circle.

"So what do you guys think? It'll be nice and it's just a small gathering! I swear it won't go past 10pm!" Ali said looking around the group with her eyes landing on christen's curious face.

"What will be a nice small gathering?"

"Ash's friend is having the grand opening of her coffeeshop tonight at 8pm... I know, weird time but she said the coffeeshop was going to be lit up with fairy lights so she thought that it would be better at night so that it-"

"Okay okay Ali, what about it?" Christen cut her off, not to be rude, but she knew Ali could ramble on forever.

"Well..." Ali rubbed the back of her neck, "Ash said I should invite the entire House over... Because the more people the better promotion her friend could get... Come on please? It's like one of Ash's long lost best friends!" 

Christen looked around the group. Her entire household seemed to be considering the idea.

"You said free coffee and pastries right?" Kelley said rubbing her chin with one hand while the other rested on her hip.

"Yes." Ali giggled. This got everyone's attention, even Christen's. Sure she wanted to go home and call everyone she knew, share the good news, and then get knocked out by sleep, but free coffee sounded great after a hard days work.

"I'm in." The household said in unison. Christen shook her head at her household's weakness to coffee and pastries.

"Great! Do you guys need me to pick any of you up?" Ali offered. 

The group looked around and shrugged, shaking their heads no.

"Okay! See you tonight! I'll text you all the location." Ali waved and headed out of the stadium with her bag over her shoulder.

"Ready to go home and clean up?" Kelley turned to her best friend and smiled.

"Clean up?" Christen raised an eyebrow back, "Kel, I just showered."

Kelley laughed as they made their way to the exit doors. They spotted their car and got in, Alex and Alyssa in to Alyssa's car while Christen and Kelley drove back in Kelley's.

"You do know this is a semi-formal gathering right?" Kelley said as she backed up and then took off towards their home.

"You've got to be shitting me." 

"What?" Kelley glanced at her distressed friend, "I thought you liked dressing up." 

"Not after a hella rough game. We have like.." She looked down at her watch. 7pm. The sun had set around 6pm, indicating the coming of winter, which she somewhat hated. 

"Yeah well... Make sure to look somewhat presentable." Kelley laughed as he friend whacked her arm. 

Once they made it home, Christen went straight to her room in the basement to try and find a decent outfit for tonight. She wanted to be formal, but not too formal. 

After rummaging through her closet for a solid fifteen minutes, she landed her eyes on a short maroon dress. It wasn't too bad. It came up mid thigh and it would go great with her comfortable black heels. She undressed and quickly stepped into the dress, knowing everybody would be wanting to head out soon. 

She walked up the steps and into the hallway to the rest of the rooms. 

"Ready?" She asked the girls who were all crowded around in Alex's room. 

"Yup!" Kelley turned around first and her mouth dropped slightly. "Damn Chris, trying to catch some fish tonight?"

Christen rolled her eyes and exited the room just as quickly as she entered it. 

Once all of the girls were ready in their semi-formal dresses, Kelley and Alyssa grabbed the car keys and headed out. 

"Kelley, you better not ditch me." Christen stated as they got into the car. Kelley seemed offended.

"I would never!"

"Uh huh."

"What?"

"Kel, if you so much as see an opportunity to hit on some girl you ditch me in the blink of an eye."

Kelley takes a sharp turn causing Christen to bump her head on the window.

"Okay maybe I do... But you know... If you did it to me I wouldn't mind." Kelley hummed as she took a softer turn this time.

"As if."

"Who knows." Kelley shrugged, "maybe you'll find someone at this gathering. We gotta go fishing Chris. Or do you wanna die alone like an old wrinkly raisin?"

Christen scrunched up her face at the comment, "No. But my love life is the least of my worries right now..."

Kelley shook her head and rolled her eyes. Her hand came down on the steering wheel with a slap and a reply, "Oh boy here we fucking go."

"What?" Christen looked over at her friend.

"You're always making excuses. Just like in Stanford. Everyone... Literally everyone was drooling over you on campus. And what do you do? You say you have to study. Loosen up a bit Chris, I know you can have someone if you really wanted to." Kelley finished as they finally get into downtown.

Christen sighed and fumbled with the tips of her dress, "Yeah? Well, I don't need one. I need to be better at soccer. Did you see how I messed up with the defense?" 

The freckled friend snickered and nodded, coming to a stop and parking the car in what Christen could only assume was the back of the coffeeshop. 

"Yeah! I thought you were gonna 'Meg her!"

Christen frowned and got out of the car. She slammed the door shut and smoothed her dress out. "Yeah me too... This dick decided that in that moment it would be a good time to take a picture with a flash on."

"Oh.." Kelley furrowed her eyebrows, "well at least I know you didn't lose your game... Blame it on the photographer."

Christen bit her lip, "Yeah..." 

They quickly texted Ali to let her know their arrival. About two minutes later the back door opened and Ali waved them over. Shortly after, Alyssa and Alex arrived. 

Ali stepped aside as they were let into the coffeeshop. It has brick walls with small photographs hanging off of them. They walked through to find a table to sit at while more people started pouring in. 

Ali really wasn't kidding when she said it was a small gathering. Only about twenty people were there. It was nice. 

"Hey guys! Thanks for coming!" Ashlyn showed up at their table. She slide into the seat next to Ali and draped and arm across her shoulders with a quick kiss to the cheek.

Again, Christen's mind wondered.

"You guys are gross." Kelley stuck her tongue out but quickly put it back in when Alex elbowed her in the ribs. Ash and Ali just titled their heads back in laughter.

"Oh! Hold on. I have to come and get Allie."

Alex's head shot up at that name.

"Wait wait... Allie?" 

"Yup!"

"THE Allie Long?!" Alex screeched this time earning a few looks from people around them. 

"Yes!" Ash laughed and got up, "be right back."

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh!" Alex slapped Kelley's arm repeatedly.

"Kay. I'm sitting next to Chris now." Kelley made and attempt to get up but was pulled down again, Alex letting out a small 'sorry'. 

"Who's Allie Long?" Alyssa asked the question that everyone had on the tip of their tongue. 

"Only the best girl ever. We were roommates with another girl. We were called the Three Amigas!"

Christen giggled at Alex's Spanish, remembering all the years in college spent just to study the language. 

About two minutes later Ashlyn showed up with two girls. One had on a beanie, they other had her hair pulled into a tight ponytail. 

'Wait... Could that be...'

"NO!!!!" Alex shot up from her seat before tackling the two girls Ashlyn had behind her.

"Okay Alex. Nice to know who was your favorite back in college." Ashlyn scoffed.

"SHUSH!" Alex said, "THE THREE AMIGAS BACK IN ACTION." 

Christen was in a daze, trying to process what was going on around her. Ash just shook her head and pushed Alex back into her seat.

"Everybody, these are my two buddies from college- Tobin and Allie." She pointed between the two. "Allie is the owner of this shop and Tobin here was taking photos of me surfing earlier for a magazine." 

'Photographer... Beanie... Dirty blonde hair...'

Christen clenched her fist underneath the table 

'Just my luck' she thought

The two new girls waved towards everybody. Once Tobin and Christen's eyes met, they both knew who the other one was. Tobin looked away sheepishly before excusing herself to change out of clothes. Now that Christen thought about it, the hoodie was the same as well. The only thing missing were her glasses. 

"That's the girl!" Christen whispered to Kelley across the table. 

"What girl?"

"The photographer that blinded me." 

"Chris we won."

Christen pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, knowing full well it would've been an assist in her pocket if it wasn't for that girl.

"Still..."

"Aw. Does Chris have a crush on the little photographer?" Kelley perked up. "It's not kindergarten Chris."

"No!" Christen felt a heat rise up her neck but it never reached her cheeks.

"Kay whatever you say. I don't blame you though. If you don't tap that I will." Kelley winked at her. 

Christen's mind went to the girl. She /was/ very attractive. Her strong jaw, piercing honey eyes, slim body. Christen shook her head, trying to stop drooling over a complete stranger that wasn't a very pleasant person in her mind. She should've known not to take flash photography. 

What if Alex hadn't scored that goal twelve minutes in? What if they had to go to penalties because she couldn't give that cross to Alex?

The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she grew with herself. She shouldn't be this upset over a silly flash. 

"Good evening." A low throaty soft voice spoke up. It was her.

"I'll be your waitress today... Normal we don't have waiters but tonight is a full house so we can't have everyone up there ordering..." Tobin said, looking around the table for a reaction, never once looking at Christen. 

This bother Christen. She wanted her to look at her. She wanted to examine her eyes and face more. 

 

"Neat!" Kelley said. Everyone started saying their orders after that until it came down to Christen.

Tobin let out a small cough, "and uh... You miss?"

Christen met eyes with the honey eyed girl again and for a moment she forgot her order she had been repeating in her head over and over again.

"Surprise me." Christen finally let out after a few seconds of staring at the girls eyes. 

Tobin nodded and wrote down something in a small notepad.

"I'll be back." 

And with that Christen's eyes lingered on the honey eyed girl as she walked away. 

"Chris you might wanna close your mouth before flys get in there." Kelley teasingly reached across the table and nudged Christen's chin. She slapped her friend's hand away and pouted again.

"Shut up. I don't like that girl kel."

Kelley raised her eyebrow at this.  
"Oh really? You should tell yourself that." 

Christen was about to speak but didn't have any comeback to that.

'I don't like this girl... I hate her...  
I can't.. I can't like this girl...but I can't hate her either... '

Christen thought and got tangled up in her own thoughts at the possibility of developing a crush on a total stranger this quickly. 

'Okay maybe I have a crush... But it'll go away. It's just a crush...'


	2. Flash pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this story will be slow, with slow burn so please be patient, sit back and enjoy the somewhat decent ride!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I can't figure out for the life of me how to italicize so when you see words in between dashes // that means it's most likely an inner monologue or thought! Thank you for all the kudos!! Kudos kudos!!! Dang. I didn't expect to get that many (for me thats many) so it's very flattering! Thank you for the few sweet comments too! They make me wanna write right away. Anyways heres part 2 of the first chapter that I decided to split up because it was getting long.

"Alright here..." Tobin came back with a full tray of coffees in one hand, while having another full tray of pastries in the other. 

She carefully set down the pastries and started handing them out to the rightful owners of each. 

Christen didn't get one. Tobin held the now empty tray under her armpit as she started handing out the coffee mugs. 

Again, Christen didn't get one. 

Everyone started digging into their pastries and coffees as Christen death-glared Tobin. She was about to protest but was soon shush as Tobin picked up the second tray to put under her arm and turned to meet Christen's eyes.

"My apologies... We're a bit short right now. I can only carry so many coffee and doughnuts you know?" Tobin let out an easy laugh, as if having Christen wait was okay.

"Well-" Christen started talking but was cut off by Tobin, a smirk plastered on her face. 

"I'll be back with yours shortly miss." And with that, Tobin turned on her heels and started walking back towards the counter.

Christen was just about to flip the table. Does Tobin think it's funny? Did she really think she was on good terms with Christen to start teasing her?

"Yo hot sauce." Kelley nudged Christen's hand that was gripping the side of the table. "Turn it down to mild sauce would you? It looks like you could kill someone. This is a nice place Chris, with nice people."

Christen scoffed and let go of the table, resting her hands on top of it instead.

"Yeah... Real nice."

Kelley furrowed her eyebrows, realizing that her best friend was clearly not having a good time. She decided to break off a piece of her bread and hand it to Christen.

"Here." She offered, but Christen shook her head.

"I'm not hungry."

"So then why do you have your panties in a knot Chris?" 

Christen's eyes grew wide at Kelley's word phrasing.

"I don't!"

Kelley's eyes almost rolled to the back of her head. "I really don't get you sometimes. We won, we're having a nice FREE pastry dinner... Nice people too." She coughed as Tobin approached the table again behind Christen.

"Especially our waitress..." Kelley let out just as soon as Tobin reached the table with a strawberry short cake and cappuccino.

"Would you just give it a rest! Kel-"

"Miss." She heard that warm voice behind her once again that made the hairs in the back of her neck stand up.

"Sorry, once again. But I hope you like this dessert I've picked for you... I had a tough time picking..." Tobin sheepishly admitted as she set the plate and mug down in front of Christen.

Tobin fumbled with her apron as she made eye contact with Christen once more. She slipped a piece of paper out of her apron's pocket and put it underneath the mug. Christen was left staring at the paper, wondering whether she should open it now or when she leaves. Christen's decision was made for her soon enough though.

"HARRY!" She heard Allie scream. Everybody turned around to look at the owner of the coffeeshop. "Get your butt over here! I need you to clean the coffee machine!" 

Christen didn't know what to do or say, so before she managed to say anything, Tobin was already making her way back behind the counter.

"Smooth." Alex nodded along with Kelley as they watched Tobin walk away.

"What's smooth?" Christen perked up.

"Just Tobin. I don't know what it is about her but she's like the calmest person I've ever seen... To cool to be true." Kelley rubbed her chin and took another bite of her free bread.

Christen looked down and picked up the piece of paper, unfolding it while taking a sip of her cappuccino. It was a sloppy written message, she could barely make out what it said.

It read:  
"/when I said sorry I meant for the lateness AND what happened on that field. You killed it out there btw. I hope you accept my apology & will allow me to give you a free dinner sometime. Invite anyone you want. It'll be on me. Looks like we'll be seeing each other a lot more often anyways so let's get off on the right foot this time- Hi, my name is Tobin. Would you like to tell me yours?/"

 

Christen was shocked at Tobin forwardness, but then again how hard could it be to write it down instead of saying it in person. Christen had mixed emotions about this girl. She /was/ too cool to be true, but there was something about her that made Christen want to know her better. Maybe Christen was overreacting about the entire camera slip-up. 

Christen drank the rest of her drink as she looked around, trying to find Tobin. No matter how hard she double checked every corner of the shop, Tobin was nowhere in sight. She had completely shut everyone off around her in order to find this girl that she was startled when her name got called, harshly.

"CHRIS!"

"Yes?"

Kelley and Alex groaned in frustration, 

"I SAID. Tobin must have some bitchin' guns for her to carry and balance all those full trays around huh?" Kelley snickered and Alex just shook her head.

"Kelley it's not that hard. I could do that." Alex frowned, her competitive side clearly showing.

"I was just saying." Kelley said in defense. Alex bit her lip and looked down at the table. There was a small silence so Christen found this to be the perfect opportunity to slip away from the group.

"Hey Ash?" She called down the row of seats in the table.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where the bathroom is?"

Ashlyn nodded and pointed to the far right side of the shop, "There's a small hallway leading to the bathroom down there."

Christen excused herself and went to clear her head in the bathroom. 

With her luck, just as she was about to open the door, it opened for her, causing a collision.

"Shit. Sorry." She heard the one person she was looking for say while she rubbed her head.

'Just my damn luck today huh.' Christen thought as she had that warm voice already memorized. She didn't have to look up to know it was Tobin.

"Are you alright? Did I get your dress wet?" Tobin examined her with worried eyes, clearly sensing the tense atmosphere from Christen's side. Tobin has messed up a lot in the few short hours they've interacted.

Christen double checked her words before speaking this time, thinking about the small note left on her table. 

"Christen." She sighed and waited for a reaction.

"Again?" Tobin questioned, not knowing who or what the girl in front of her was talking about. 

She reached into her pocket and pulled the note out. 

"My name. It's Christen. Christen Press." She stuck her hand out to have a proper greeting. She was met with a toothy grin and squinty eyes in return.

When Tobin's hand met hers, her throat went dry. Her touch was so warm and familiar, it freaked Christen out a little. Her grip was firm yet gentle, very comforting. Christen gave her a firmer grip in return before they let go, her hand feeling colder already.

She replied with a little salute that made Christen let out a small giggle, "Tobin Heath, at your service." Tobin's smile grew at making the girl laugh.

"But in all seriousness... I truly am sorry for messing up back there on the field. I thought the flash was off but I forgot to take it down from my last session." Tobin explained rapidly.

Christen was in a better mood all of a sudden, knowing full well that Tobin never had any bad intentions up her sleeve. She decided to start showing the real Christen and not the bitchy one she had picked to be today.

"Hey, it's alright. I was just stressed... I'm usually not like this."

"No?" Tobin raised an eyebrow and tried meeting Christen's eyes that were glued to the floor due to the embarrassment of her attitude. 

The dark haired girl took a deep breath and shook her head, meeting the honey eyes again.  
"No. I Promise."

It caused Tobin's mouth to break out into another grin, "Good, I was hoping you wouldn't... It'd be real awkward hanging out with your people knowing you hated my guts."

Christen's guilt built from her words, knowing her attitude towards the poor girl this entire day was anything but fair.

"You know what." Christen shook her head and let out a laugh of disbelief, "I should be apologizing. I never meant for you to think I hated your guts. I-"

Tobin cut her off with that warm voice of hers again, "Hey, it's ok, really. We already started over remember? You introduced yourself." 

Christen nodded and couldn't help but smile at how easy going this girl was. Anyone else and they would probably be bitchy right back at her. It was usually how Christen ruined things. By overacting which caused the other person to become angry and things ending in the worst way she could imagine. Also another reason why she didn't believe in having a relationship anytime soon, other than her soccer career excuses. 

A clear of the throat got her out of her thoughts.

"So how about that dinner? Or coffee? Whatever you want. I wanna get to know all of Allie and Alex's friends more."

Christen pondered on the idea of more free food.

"I'm considering." She stated, "But-"

Tobin's eyes and smile quickly fell, and Christen caught it. She smiled to herself, knowing she had some kind of affect on the girl who also had some kind of affect on her. They were on equal playing grounds for now. 

"- only me. You and I. I don't want anybody else getting this free deal."

"Oh?" Tobin questioned, her mood lifting up slightly with amusement, causing Christen grin, "Why's that?"

Christen smiled and started pushing past Tobin to enter the bathroom. Tobin followed the girl with her gaze as she entered the bathroom. Christen held the door and let out a small reply followed by a smirk before closing the door.

"Because I'm the only one who got flashed." 

Tobin's mind fell into the gutter, thinking about a different kind of flashing. Her face became hot but thank God Christen didn't catch it.

 

\-----------

After about an hour later, Allie had made her way into the table. She was very sarcastic and witty in a way that made her very likable. Her small jokes and teasing of old friends had the entire table doubled over in laughter and Christen started to wonder why neither Alex nor Ashlyn had every mentioned this girl before. 

Her thoughts were wiped away when she saw Tobin sitting by the stool section near the far right wall. 

She had a coffee in hand and was looking around like a curious puppy. Christen smiled a little at the girl's nonchalant attitude. She wanted to be laid back just like her. Christen thought if it were her sitting alone in a place full of people, she'd be sweating rivers, just trying to find a way to not look awkward.

That wasn't the case with Tobin. She looked relaxed and a small grin was planted on her face, as if she were genuinely enjoying her time alone.

Getting up from the table, Christen hoped she wouldn't ruin the small grin planted on Tobin's face. She took a couple strides towards Tobin, ignoring the calling of her name behind her. It was probably only Kelley waiting to make a teasing remark over her going to talk to Tobin. 

Christen had to keep repeating to herself every step she took toward Tobin- 'kelley is wrong, kelley is wrong, kelley is wrong.' She had to assure herself nothing was out of its usual place in her mind or heart. She had to make sure to keep those doors shut tight. 

Did she have a crush on Tobin? Sure. But a crush is just a crush. Christen isn't blind, so when she see's someone attractive she wouldn't lie to herself and say they weren't.

'Tobin is /very/ attractive' she thought to herself as she got closer and closer to the cool being.   
The lighting in the room made her lashes and eyes pop more than Christen had ever expected. Being able to see Tobin from afar and stare longer than acceptable was a big advantage Christen took a hold of. It was the first and maybe last time she could admire Tobin in her natural state, without forcing anything, to watch her in her own little intimate bubble.

Christen made the last two steps and 'pop', the bubble was gone, and she was hoping that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Nervously, she tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled once Tobin noticed her presence in front of her. 

Taking one last gulp of her coffee, Tobin smiled and put it down in the small island.

"Hi." Tobin smiled.

Christen let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"Hi."

They looked at each other a bit until finally Tobin was the one to take a step forward to further their interactions.

"So you like the coffee? Allie says its a speciality and secret recipe of her family's and it's why their company is so successful." Tobin laughs taking a seat in the stool. She then pulled up the stool next to her and patted it, looking at Christen and waiting for her to take a seat. Christen did, just in time as Tobin started speaking once more.   
"I just think it's a bunch of bull. Allie doesn't   
know any recipes. She just got handed this shop down by her great uncle." 

Christen let out a small laugh at Tobin teasing Allie who was just a few table away. 

"So Allie literally owns this shop?" Asked Christen.

Tobin nodded and made a /hell yeah/ face.   
"She's basically shitting out gold bricks and then wiping her ass with hundred dollar bills."

If Christen had been drinking anything at that moment, it would have been spit out and all over the floor right about now. She was giggling uncontrollably.

"That's gold." She stayed after the laughing fit.

Tobin raised her eyebrows, "yeah, like her shit."

They both chuckled. 

"So... About that dinner..." Christen teased. She wanted to get a reaction out of Tobin. "When's the date?"

Tobin looked over at her curiously, she picked her coffee back up an chugged whatever was left of it.

"Whenever you want." She wiped her mouth, "Just let me know and I'll clear my schedule."

"Very busy are you?" Christen questioned a bit more flirtatiously than she meant to. She internally cringed, hoping Tobin didn't think this was a lame attempt at flirting even if it sounded like it. 

Tobin's chill exterior didn't budge. Her face appeared to be indifferent by the question. 

With a simple shrug, she replied, "I mean yeah. I'm just now starting to make it in photography. Thank god I know a professional athlete like Ashlyn who lets me photograph her. I'm at least gaining momentum now. LA magazines dig surfers" 

Christen nodded, wondering what the job and life of a photographer was like. Did she travel a lot? Did she get bored? Did she barely make rent? All these questions spurred in Christen's mind, intrigued by this girl's life all of a sudden. If Christen was honest, she might be being a bit bias. Any other time, she couldn't care less about the life or job of a photographer. She didn't care, in fact, she cared just about Tobin. 

"I see. So do you only photograph athle-"

Before she managed to finish her sentence, a clinking of glass quieted the entire room. All eyes turned to Allie, standing on a small table and looking around with a bright smile.

"Thank you all for coming!" She announced, "but the hell get out you barbarians!"

Clearly everybody at this gathering was some sort of friend because the room erupted with laughter. Christen looked around at all the grinning faces, feeling content in the environment.

"Sorry. She's just being dumb. So what were you gonna-" Tobin was cut off this time, by a long haired girl. She wrapped an arm around Tobin's and smiled. 

Tobin's attention, and Christen's at that, quickly turned to the girl behind Tobin. 

Christen examined her up and down. She had a tight black dress. Her hair was long and black, with dyed blue tips. Her face and neck were long and elegant. She had striking blue eyes to match her hair. Christen suddenly felt very small in the presence of what she could only assume was a model standing before her.

"Hey. Are you ready to kick it?" The girl asked.

Tobin laughed and nodded, quickly slapping her forehead, "Ah! I completely forgot we were doing that tonight. Is the weather okay?" 

Christen only watched the two interact. The lingering hand holding Tobin's bicep didn't go unnoticed by Christen's piercing eyes. The longer it held on, the more Christen grew frustrated.

'She shouldn't be touching her like that' Christen thought with no self control. Quickly, she caught herself. 'Or maybe she should. Why should I care?'

Tobin stopped gawking at the blue haired girl for a couple of seconds to look back at Christen, an apologetic face taking over. The girl kept rambling on but Christen was out of it, she tuned the two out and stared at the floor instead.

She didn't know what else she expected. A girl like Tobin. Why would she be single? And why did Christen herself even care? She didn't. She couldn't.   
They only met a few hours ago, but the pull of Christen to Tobin was like the Moon to the Earth, and Christen could feel herself beginning a long journey, revolving around the girl named Tobin. 

She just didn't understand why she cared so much. Maybe she just wanted the /opportunity/ to be able to flirt with Tobin, but now she can't. It'd be wrong of her to do so. Again, maybe it all had to do with her being bias with Tobin's good looks, but Christen definitely wanted to flirt with Tobin. Maybe have a fling, but all that went down the garbage chute with the new girls appearance.

"Christen?"

Tobin's firm voice brought Christen back to reality.

"Hm?" She questioned as she looked to see if her arm was still being held. To her relief, it wasn't, and the girl was no longer by her side.

"I gotta run. But here." She quickly grabbed a napkin and scribbled down a couple of numbers. "Here's my phone number for that free dinner of yours." 

Christen's hand shyly took a hold of the napkin before stuffing it into her pocket. 

/thank god my dress has pockets. I wouldn't hear the end of it from Kelley./ she thought to herself.

Tobin smiled once she saw Christen put it away safely. Her gaze lingered on Christen as she pulled her hair over her left shoulder.

Patting her dress, Tobin let out a small sigh and grin before speaking up once more.

"It was nice meeting you. I hope you take my offer."

"I will." Christen says, mentally slapping herself to committing to something without thinking.

 

Tobin took one last look up and down christen's body, "I'll see you then."

Christen nodded, not wanting to say goodbye just yet, especially knowing Tobin was leaving with some other girl.

Tobin waiting for a goodbye in return, but soon realized it wasn't coming. She stepped aside and went out of the door.

 

Christen frowned. She hoped Tobin didn't take it the wrong way. She just truly didn't know how to say goodbye.

Disappointed with her actions yet again, Christen went back to the table.

"I want to go." She looked Kelley dead in the eye. Kelley nodded, no questions asked. 

 

\----------

For the past two weeks, Christen and Tobin had been texting back and forth. Not much, but some, just generally talking about their day experiences since their lives were so diverse. It wasn't anything personal- yet. Christen was saving all the personal questions for the much anticipated dinner. She was waiting for Tobin to bring it up, but soon realized it wasn't going to happen. 

The past two days, Tobin had been very distant, and Christen was realizing if she ever wanted to form a real bond with this girl, she would have to grasp at the last opportunity she had before it was too late. She would ask about the dinner today.

She could consider Tobin somewhat of a friend now. Their talking was always smooth sailing, even if it was only for an hour each day, Christen didn't take it for granted. Tobin always found a way to make her giggle, even through just a text. It helped knowing two of her close friends were already friends with Tobin, giving Christen a safe feeling to opening up. How could this go wrong? If people she trusted loved Tobin, how could she not?

Christen tapped her fingers on the desk in her room. Her phone was set in front of her, torturing her by not ringing. 

After a few more minutes, Christen rose from her seat with a frustrated groan. It couldn't go on like this- she needed to relax and stop obsessing over one girl's opinion on her. She wanted to prove to Tobin she wast this moody, rude person. 

 

Opening her bedroom door and stepping up a couple steps, she made her way into the living area. 

Of course, Alex was there with her boyfriend Servando, and Christen's mind wondered to the place which should not be spoken of.

The couple just looked too cute holding hands on the couch while laughing at dumb things the other said. They had been dating for three years now. 

"Hey Serv." Christen greeted casually.

He stopped pushing Alex around in order to wave back, "Hey Chris!" 

Christen liked Servando a lot actually. He made Alex happy and was more of a decent human being than she could ever probably be. He was a mommas boy, called his parents probably every two days, while Christen kept her life in secret unless her family interrogated her about it. He was also decent enough to try to keep a relationship with Alex, knowing his soccer career would take a toll on them being far apart for long periods of time. In the meantime, Christen just shut that entire relationship idea up completely.

Completely, that is, until she saw couples like Alex and Serv. Or Ali and Ash. Ash being a professional surfer and Ali being a pro in the NWSL making it work beautifully. They could get married anytime soon, Christen felt it.

Christen's thoughts calmed down once again when she entered the kitchen and saw Kelley attempting to make some sort of smoothie. 

Sighing, Christen pulled up a stool and sat at the island. 

Kelley heard the loud sigh and turned to see what her best friend was up to.

"Want some?" She offered, holding up the blended liquid.

Christen took one good look at the green liquid, cringed, then shook her head. Kelley shrugged and poured some into a travel cup,   
"More for me."

Christen was trying hard to stop thinking about all the reasons why Tobin wasn't answering. 

/Dammit Chris. Get your shit together, get out of the house./

She rose from the stool and headed down to the basement to get on her jogging gear. 

Before she got out her clothes, she took one last glance at her phone. As if on cue, it vibrated, Tobin's name lighting up the screen.

Tobin: 'Hey. I know it's short noticed but are you free right now? It's not dinner, it's lunch time, but still... Free food? :)'

Christen bit her lip. Her stubbornness was starting to bubble deep within her. She didn't want to just jump at the offer, as if she had nothing better to do... Even if /it was true/.

She quickly thought back to how she had been feeling the entire day- regret for acting so selfish toward Tobin.

She quickly typed up a message, swallowing her stubbornness down with a deep breath.

Christen: 'love to! Where do you wanna meet?'

Tobin answered quickly this time, causing Christen's heartbeat to race slightly.

Tobin: 'heh... If it's not too much to ask- would you mind coming to Allie's shop?'

Christen smiled at Tobin's concern. A text followed immediately after.

Tobin: 'if not that's totally fine! I can come pick you up in 10?'

Christen: 'no! That's okay. I'll be done there asap.'

Tobin: cool

 

Christen rolled her eyes a bit. Of course Tobin would be the type of person to reply with "cool" while Christen was basically beating her heart out of her chest.

She quickly got dressed, some casual jeans and   
sweater to deal with the chilly early October air. Along with a light layer of make-up, her hair was tied back into a high ponytail. With one last look in the mirror, she headed out the door with a light jacket in hand. 

She didn't leave before getting her keys from the bowl in the living room, giving Kelley and opportunity to spot her and only add to the stress that was building up inside Christen.

"Where are you going all dolled up?" Kelley raised her eyebrows over her mug, finishing whatever grows fluid she had prepared earlier.

"Just getting together with a friend." Christen casually said, checking her hair one last time in the wall mirror hanging in the living area. 

A scoff came from Kelley, "You have other friends?!" She shook her head and peeked i tot he mug, checking to see if there was anything left to drink, "I am offended." 

"How is that offensive?" Christen laughed, digging into the cushions now because she couldn't find her damn keys.

"I'm supposed to be your one and only." 

"We're not dating Kel."

"In friendship we are!" Kelley protested. "Boyfriend and well in our case /girlfriends/ will come and go but Chris." She gestured the space between them, "This is for life."

"Well good thing I'm not meeting up with my girlfriend then." Christen sighed hearing kelley snicker at her comment. Flipping a cushion over, there, finally were the keys. She scooped them into her pocket and straightened her sweater once more. 

"That yellow sweater brings out your eyes as well as your boobs." Kelley gave the 'okay' sign with her hand and winked, causing Christen to blush slightly and shake her head.

/okay so what if maybe I did pick this sweater on purpose/ 

"I'll see you later Kel!"

Before she managed to shut the door behind her, kelley got the last word in.

"Oh! Tell Tobin I said hi!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any mistakes! It's a little hard editing since I'm writing this with my phone because the only laptop I have is a family one in the living room so... Yeah. Don't want anybody finding out this gay ass shit I'm writting. 
> 
> I also have a tumblr just for my stories now! www.bnwoso.tumblr.com so if you want to be anonymous and critique or have questions about anything THERES the place to do it!(Yes I had a tumblr before for many years but I'm not giving away my personal) thanks for reading and again any comments or kudos are very much appreciated!


	3. She's a Riot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you do? Hope you don't get used to all these fast updates... But I hope you appreciate them while they're fast.   
> Song: She's a Riot by The Jungle Giants  
> (I'll try to make chapters have song's titles from now on as cliche as that is- I'll name the artist and all so check them out!)

\---//I found you here right beside me  
Saying all the things you’ve never done  
There’s not much time and less to say  
Oh please, just come away.  
You could be my lady   
And we’ll walk the streets  
For no reason maybe  
Just till you see, you won’t be so lonely  
When you’re with me you won’t ever be so lonely//--- 

 

With one final jerk of the steering wheel, Christen made her way into the back parking lot since the front of the coffeeshop only had but a street and road. 

She double checked her appearance in the rearview mirror before shaking her head.

/Cmon Chris. It doesn't matter what you look like. It's just lunch./

But even with her telling herself that, deep within her little heart, she hoped it wasn't just lunch. She hoped Tobin felt the strong pull towards her just as much as she did and was wanting to build a strong friendship. Christen just hoped this wasn't a one sided deal. There was only one way to find out- so she made her way on the sidewalk to go through the front door of the coffeeshop. 

Christen pulled open the door, a small 'ding' of a bell rung above her head. Only about five people were in the shop, most of them hunched over a table, looking intensely at their laptops.

/thank god I never had to finish college/ Christen thought to herself, looking at what looked to be sleep-deprived, zombie students drinking coffee like their life depended on it. 

She looked around but found no sign of Tobin, so she did the only thing she could do and walked up to the counter. 

Quickly, a blonde girl with cheeky smile popped up from the back. 

With a cheerful smile she asked, "What can I get you today?" 

Christen looked up at the menu, the scribbles on the chalk board barely legible.

She shrugged, "A mocha frappe would be nice."

Before the blonde even had the chance to tell her the price, she heard the wonderfully warm voice she had been searching for.

"Wait! Don't pay for that!" Tobin quickly rose from the depths of the back kitchen. She wore an apron, her famous black beanie and a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It looked as if she had been kneading some dough from the flour on her hands and sleeves. "Free deal remember?" 

Christen couldn't help the corners of her mouth rising slightly. She nodded and backed away from the counter and Tobin quickly made her way over the side of the counter to greet Christen.

"Hi." Tobin smiled and was about to go in for a hug, making Christen's heartbeat become uneven. Much to christen's relief, and disappointment if she was honest, Tobin pulled back before she managed to touch Christen.

"Oh! Sorry I forgot I was all dirty. I don't wanna ruin your nice outfit." Tobin scanned Christen, "Nice outfit. Did I mention that?"

Christen giggled at Tobin's bubbly mood.  
"Yeah. I think so."

Tobin nodded, smiling and her eyes lingered on Christen's before she pulled the gaze away from her and towards the blonde girl behind the counter.

"This is Emily by the way. She just got hired a week ago." 

Christen looked at the girl, inspecting her closer and noticing her name tag, which just said 'rookie'. 

"Really? Because her name tag begs to differ." Christen raised an eyebrow in Tobin's direction. Tobin's face took a look of confusion but soon was replaced with a chuckle.

"Right right, Allie makes the new employees wear those. What an ass right?" Tobin smirked as Emily gave her the middle finger.

Christen just looked between the two and let out a small laugh, "Well how come you don't have to wear that?"

Tobin looked down at her outfit and shrugged,   
"Well I work in the back. Who needs to know my name other than my co-workers?" 

Christen rolled her eyes, but nodded in understanding. 

"Is this where you wanted to have my free meal at?" Christen questions, looking around and soon spots Allie talking to a customer in the other side of the shop.

Tobin is quick to answer with easy laughter,   
"What? No! I mean you already ate here. I mean... If you want. I just wanted you to meet me here because I'm getting off my shift in..."

She looked down at her watch, "two minutes."

Christen frowns, realizing Tobin really must have been busy the past few days and not just ignoring her. She feels sympathy, looking over the girl in front of her. She had bags under her eyes and messy hair that indicates her appearance was the least of her worries.

"No, lunch is fine here." Christen smiles in order to reassure Tobin. "Really." 

Tobin gives her a toothy smile before nodding.

"Let me get out of these dirty clothes so we can chat like normal people and not the lady and the tramp." 

Before Christen can comment on the 'tramp' part of her statement, Tobin was going into a back room. 

Christen decided to go sit in a booth. It was up against the window, allowing her to look out onto the street and see someone walking their dog with their child. There was also a small woman in the corner selling flowers. In the afternoon light, it made everyone and everything seem like a dream. A couple was holding groceries and stuffing them into their car. Christen laughed as she saw the man drop a tomato, causing his girlfriend to give him a quick flick in the ear and laughter by both followed soon after. 

 

"Hey." Tobin slides into the booth, right across Christen, her beanie off and away. She was now wearing a loose white top with zip up hoodie overtop, her collarbones were exposed. Christen could swear she even saw a bit of mascara on her now.

"Hi." Christen smiled back. It's as if she can't find any words to say to Tobin. 

"Want me to go order for us?" Tobin questions. 

Christen shrugs, "I was gonna order something off the menu... But I couldn't read it." She scrunched her nose.

Tobin giggles at that, "Yeah... Sorry that's my hand writing. I'll bring you back something yeah?"

"Okay!" Christen sighs as Tobin goes away and comes back in less than two minutes. She had a sprinkles doughnut and sugar doughnut with two coffees.

She put the sprinkled doughnut in front of Christen which caused Christen to make a face.

Tobin looked at her expression in amusement.  
"What? Don't like doughnuts?"

Christen internally slapped herself for being the picky eater she is. 

She mumbled out, "No.. I do... Just not sprinkled ones." She looked up to see Tobin's nonchalant reaction "Sorry, it doesn't matter."

Tobin shook her head and quickly switched their doughnuts without hesitation.

"If I'm gonna give you a free meal might as well be one that you enjoy yeah?" Tobin smiled across the table to Christen, who returned the smile.

Christen grew frustrated with herself for not being able to get out of her shell more. They had only been able to exchange shy smiles this entire time and every conversation they had (which was initiated by Tobin) died because Christen didn't keep it going.  
She was fine at the party two weeks ago when she first met Tobin. But perhaps, it was only because it was a full house, and there was never any room for awkward silences. Christen had felt more confident surrounded by people. This felt more intimate somehow, just Tobin and her. 

Now, in an almost empty shop, with nothing but the quiet soundtrack in the background, Christen's mind was blank. Luckily, Tobin didn't seem to mind too much as she dug into her doughnut.

Christen took a sip of her coffee before finally ripping off the band-aid.

"So what do you photograph?"

Tobin cleaned her mouth with a napkin,   
"More like /who/."

"Well who do you photograph?"

"Athletes mostly. Or musical artist. I do nature photography too but usually taking pictures of people get me more money. Plus I like photographing people more." Tobin answered easily, relaxing more into the cushioned seat.

"Why's that?" Christen asked, trying to keep something going. She still didn't know why getting to know Tobin was so important to her. It was just a feeling in her gut telling her this is something she should do. Christen never questioned her gut. It's gotten her to where she is- playing professional soccer in a city that she loves with friends that she loves. Maybe her gut was onto something.

Tobin gave an easy shrug and looked down at the table.

"Dunno, just always been easier and more fun. I get to interact with all different kinds of people and learn new things." 

"Like?" Christen asked, she was hoping Tobin wouldn't get annoyed with all her questions.

Tobin looked up and chuckled, "What is this? Twenty questions?"

"I'm sorry I-"

"Chris you gotta stop apologizing to me."

Christen let herself grin at the new nickname.

"I was only kidding around." Tobin smiled, showing her perfectly straight teeth. "I love answering questions."

Christen let out a sigh of relief and raised an eyebrow, waiting to see if Tobin would answer her question. "So?"

"Right. Well I've been picking up long boarding. I photograph a couple of skateboarders, but doing tricks and all that stuff is too much for me. I just like cruising down the street on a longboard instead." She takes another bite of her doughnut, making it disappear completely. 

Christen looked down at her full doughnut. She quickly took a bite of it, feeling bad that she wasn't eating what Tobin had bought her.

"Also learning to surfboard now thanks to Ash."   
Tobin smirked and finished off her coffee.

/she is a really fast eater. I'm the slowest there ever was./

"Yeah? Ash kick your ass did she?" Christen decided to test her boundaries.

Tobin rolled her eyes and scoffed, "oh please, shes not that good."

"Yeah yeah... She must not be since she's like a professional surfer and all. Literally... You know.. Gets paid to surf." Christen teases sarcastically, examining Tobin's expression.

She laughed, "Okay okay." She stretched her arms out on the table, almost touching Christen's hands. She let out the littlest sigh, which Christen could swear was one of the cutest things she's ever heard (aside from her dogs' whining of course), "I may or may not have busted my ass a couple times."

Tobin finally looked up from the table. As soon as they make eye contact they burst into a fit of giggles. Neither knows what's so funny, but after they've finished laughing, a new atmosphere envelopes them.   
The shy smiles and sneaky glances are no more. Comfortable silence is now in it's place as Christen finishes her coffee and doughnut, suddenly enjoying a sprinkled doughnut like never before. Tobin looks around and taps her fingers on the table to the quiet music in the background.

Christen relaxes into her seat now. She pushes away her plates and looks out at the street once more. The couple that was packing their car with groceries had now gone to the lady selling flowers in the street corner. 

Tobin follows Christen's gaze and see's what she's looking at. Now it was her turn to ask a question.

"You like flowers?" 

Christen looks back quickly, biting her lip, slightly embarrassed from dozing off. She wipes her sweaty palms on her jeans before placing them on the table.

"I don't know. I've never really had any real flowers."

Tobin puts a hand on her chest as if offended. She lets out a surprised gasp.

"No! Never?"

"Never." 

"Why?"

"Well I don't see any reason to buy them for myself, since I'm mostly never home, and I've never had anybody give me any." Christen explains with a simple shrug before returning her attention back to the flower lady. 

Before she knows it, Tobin is out of her seat and tugging on Christen's wrist.

"Come on. I can't believe nobody's ever bought you flowers before." 

Christen is taken aback but gets up anyways. She follows Tobin out of the shop. Her wrist is still being held by her.  
"It's fine really. I've never even thought about flowers."

"No? What's your favorite flower?" Tobin questions. Christen knows they're headed to the little old lady handing out flowers in the corner. She pretends to be oblivious and shrugs, even though heartbeat increases dramatically the closer they get.

"Oh... I don't know. Like I said, I don't know much about flowers." 

This made Tobin smile widely, picking up the pace.

"Okay. Let's find out your favorite flower right now." Tobin says with determination.

Once they reach the lady, she greets them with a big smile and soft spoken voice, "Hello, looking for anything in particular?"

Christen examines the big shelfs filled with flowers in the middle of the street. She's overwhelmed by all the colors and variety of shapes.

"Not really, just looking. Definitely gonna buy something though." Tobin answers kindly with a smile. It makes the old lady smile brighter.

"Take your time dears!"

Christen looks over at Tobin, asking for help silently. Tobin chuckled and tugs Christen closer to the shelfs by her arm. She gestures to all the flowers.

"Just uh, pick one you're feeling."

"I'm feeling?"

"Yeah. One that you really find appealing in this moment. Tomorrow you might like a different flower, but let's find your favorite for today." Tobin explains nonchalantly, looking over the flowers herself.

Christen just looks at Tobin, her face being more intriguing to Christen than any flower. Tobin's face is full in concentration as she perks up, spotting something she clearly likes.

"Oh! How about this?" She points out a yellow and orange rose bouquet. 

Christen looks at it, frowns and shakes her head. Tobin retreats her hand and stuffs it back in her pocket.

Tobin swings on her heels and toes, back and forth, waiting for Christen to find an appealing flower.

Tobin is very patient to say the least. It's at least been five minutes of just Christen looking at a flower, shaking her head, and moving onto the next, but Tobin finds it endearing. 

"You getting somewhere?" Tobin questions, pulling Christen away from her hard searching.

Christen hums, tapping her chin with her index finger before nodding and going back to the left end of the shelf. 

"I like those." She points to orange pistol-like flowers with small dots. 

Tobin turns to the lady, "We'll take those."

"Nice choice." The lady smiles sweetly, grabbing the bouquet and wrapping brown paper around them. 

Tobin takes out her wallet, smiling at Christen as she walks over to them. 

"Here you go miss." The lady hands over the flowers. Christen mumbles out a shy thanks as she takes them and takes a small whiff.

"What are these flowers called by the way?" Tobin asks, putting her wallet away once she pays the price.

The lady perks up, clearly loving being asked questions about flowers. 

"That's the tiger lily. It stands for 'I dare you to love me.' Lovely choice instead of a rose if you want to share some love." She explains.

Christen feels heat rise from her neck all the way to her cheeks when Tobin turns to look at her.

"Nice choice indeed." Tobin says as they start walking away from the small outside flower stand.

They walk in silence along the sidewalk. Christen gripping her flowers with dear life.

/nice choice/ christen looks down at the flowers, can't help put smell them again. 

Tobin looks at her from the corner of her eye. She has no idea where to take Christen next, but decides to jump on impulse. 

"Hey, mind if we stop by my place? I just need to grab a few things." Tobin questions.

Christen's hands grow a bit sweaty, but she nods, not wanting to say no and come off as rude.

"Cool." Tobin says as they take a turn into a small apartment complex. 

They continue walking. After two blocks, They make it to a small worn-out apartment building.  
Tobin quickly opens the lobby door and steps in. 

"Sorry... Uh the elevator is broken." Tobin says with a frown. "You can stay here if you want. I won't be long."

"No it's fine... I'll walk up with you." Christen offers, following Tobin up the stairs. This gets a big smile from Tobin as she continues climbing stairs, two at a time. Christen has no problem keeping up, being a professional athlete and all.

Once Tobin reaches apartment 17, she takes out her keys and unlocks the doors. It creaks open and they both step inside.

The apartment is empty to say the least. Only a futon, desk and lamp are in what seems to be a living area.

"Uh wait here." Tobin says as she heads down a very narrow hallway and turns to her right into another room. Christen examines the apartment more. It looks old, and very cheap. She realizes that she probably has everything in this apartment in her room. 

The apartment is almost as big /as/ her room. 

Tobin reappears with a camera wrapped around her neck.

"Do you want to leave the flowers here and get them at the end of the day?" 

Christen jumps at the opportunity, wanting to confirm this, "oh so we're spending all day together now?"

Tobin shyly looks at the ground, chuckles and rubs the back of her neck,   
"I mean- only if you want. I thought maybe we could go to the beach since it's almost winter. And then we could get real dinner. Or I don't know whatever you want to do, I-"

Christen smiles and cuts Tobin off, to save her from her rambling, "I think that sounds good, Tobin."

They smile at each other and Tobin lets out a sigh of relief. They start making their way out and onto the street once more. 

They make small talk all the way to the beach, which was only a ten minute walk. Once their feet are in the sand, they remove their shoes and hold them.

"So, never had flowers? Really really?" Tobin asked confused.

"Nooop." Christen drags out the 'o' and pops the 'p'.

"Not even by your boyfriends?" Tobin pushes and eyes Christen, but Christen won't meet her eyes and continues looking forward as they walk.

"What makes you think I had boyfriends?"

"I don't know. Maybe your good looks?" Tobin chuckles in disbelief.

Christen stops walking and turns to Tobin. She looks at the bright sun and the sparkling water behind Tobin.

"You think I'm good looking?" Christen raises her eyebrows and tries to control her body heat from rising to her face.

Tobin laughs, as if it was a ridiculous question,   
"uh duh-hoy! I'm not blind, Chris."

Christen smiles and looks down at the sand. They start walking once more before Tobin stops them and looks at the ocean. A couple of surfers are surfing along the edge of the beach.

"Oh! Hold on. I gotta snap this." Tobin reaches for the camera around her neck, stands at a weird angle and raises her arms to aim the camera. 

Christen examines Tobin's body while she can. She can see bicep muscles through the tight clothing. She licked her lips and tried to get her mind out of the gutter, but nature seemed to stop her.

A big gust of wind picks up and Tobin's shirt sticks to her mid section. She can see a strong defined core lining the white- almost see through- shirt. 

"Got it." Tobin says and zips up her hoodie due to the chilly air. She looks at Christen and shows the picture to her.

"You can't really see it, but let me saturate this puppy and size it out and it'll look great." Tobin nodded in assurance, smiling to herself.

Christen was still thinking about Tobin's muscles, but soon had to get her mind back to earth. She didn't know why she was so attracted to Tobin. She'd seen many muscle-defined women before, but perhaps it was because of how Tobin carried herself. Her relaxed character and easy going attitude brought a peace to Christen's core. And not only her muscles, but her laugh was beautiful as well and Christen couldn't help but smile every time she heard it. 

"You should show me how that photography stuff works." Christen states.

Tobin shrugs and they continue to walk,   
"It's not that difficult. Thank God we can do stuff digitally now instead of having to develop these puppies in a dark room."

Christen had absolutely no idea what a dark room was, but hoped Tobin would show her one day.

"So no boyfriends huh?" Tobin brought up the subject again that made Christen frown.

"No."

"Girlfriends then?" Tobin smiles and snaps a quick picture of people playing in the distance.

"What's up with the interrogation?" Christen questions in an amused voice. She didn't want Tobin to think she was annoyed, even if she was a little.

Tobin glances at Christen before shrugging, "Dunno, just can't believe nobody's bought you flowers."

"Oh so people have bought you dozen's of flowers then?" Christen teases, trying to avoid her love life, especially when this is the first time the two are actually hanging out, they barely know each other. She's a very closed book, and wants to keep her love life private for the time being.

This causes Tobin to roll her eyes but smile,  
"You could say so... Doesn't mean they meant anything, they're just flowers."

"So then why are you so upset over me not getting any flowers? They're just flowers Tobs."

Tobin laughs, "Oh god, not you too? What's up with people thinking my go to nickname is Tobs."

Christen raises her eyebrows, "oh- I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. Stop apologizing Chris." Tobin says, looking at the setting sun over the horizon of the beach, people were now leaving. She snaps another quick picture of the ocean.

Christen was about to apologize for apologizing but caught herself and took a deep breath instead.

"I only kid." Tobin smirks and they continue to walk, getting closer to the water and letting the waves soak their feet. 

"Guess I'll just have to get used to that then."

"That you will." Tobin responds, adding a little skip to her step.

They walk in silence, until Tobin suggest they should stop at a taco truck, parked at the side Of the beach. 

"It's only 5pm and you're already hungry again? We literally ate an hour ago." Christen teases. Tobin frowns and looks down at her stomach, patting it slightly while they wait in line.

"Well Chris, much like the heart, the stomach wants what the stomach wants." Tobin says as if it's some wise old quote.

Christen rolls her eyes, but chuckles. 

They find a nice bench to eat their tacos at- again Tobin had paid. They eat in silence, watching the sun set into an orange pink color.

"That's my favorite color." Tobin points to the Orange part of the sky.

"Orange?" Christen cringes. She never thought orange was an appealing color. It just reminded her or whacky things like clowns, or pumpkins, or street cones.

Tobin wags her finger at Christen, "No no, /sky/ orange. Like the sun set, or sunrise. There's a difference." She now points her waging finger at the sky. "It's so beautiful. Don't you think?" 

Christen tears her gaze from Tobin and examines the sky instead. Her shoulders fall and she lets out a content sigh, taking in the beautiful colors of the sky. 

"Yeah," Christen looks over at Tobin who is so concentrated on finishing her taco and watching the colors of the sky change, "it is." 

Tobin looks up and gives her a closed smile, her cheeks full of food. 

 

\------------------

 

Before Christen knows it, it's dark out and they're back in Tobin's apartment. 

"What about you?" Christen finally has the guts to ask.

Tobin stops rummaging through her kitchen cabinets for a 'light snack'. Slowly, she turned back to Christen who was sitting on her couch. Tobin gives a confused look, "What about me?"

"I mean.." Christen clears her throat, "You were asking me about my boyfriends or girlfriends... What about yours?"

Her curiosity causes Tobin to grin and leave the kitchen, instead sitting on the coach beside Christen. It squeaks slightly as it dips to Tobin's weight. Tobin rests her hands on her knees as she leans back on the couch. 

"Well... Girlfriends. It's complicated." Tobin shrugs and fiddles her thumbs.

Christen looks over her shoulder to Tobin who is looking at the space in front of her, looking at nothing in particular. 

Christen risks her boundaries, leaning back into the couch now so her face is leveled with Tobin's  
"How so?"

Tobin takes a quick glance at the girl beside her before returning to look into space.

"Uh... See, there's this girl right? She's pretty, talented, interested in /me/." Tobin chuckles, "but for me theres no..." She puts her fist together, "no connection. I don't feel a need to be in a relationship with her you know? But she's there. So why not right? I don't want to look back, ten years from now when I'm all old and alone, thinking why I didn't take the opportunity I had in front of me." 

Christen nods, trying to understand what Tobin was trying to explain. She doesn't know why she says what she says next. Whether it be for her benefit or Tobin's, it's her thoughts and they're spilling out of her mouth before she can stop them.

"You don't have to date someone just because... They're /there/." Christen looks down at her lap, not really wanting to see what Tobin's reaction is.   
There's a silence, so Christen continues on,

"You date someone because they do something to your mind and body... You date them because when they meet your eyes with theirs, you swear your heartbeat stops for just a moment. You date someone you're willing to be completely open and vulnerable to... You feel a pull to them." Christen mumbles out the last part. She finally realizes she's been talking about Tobin the entire time.

She would date Tobin. And that scares her to death. She can't. She won't let that get in a way. She won't ruin Tobin. She wants Tobin to stay her bubbly self forever.

Tobin lets out a nervous chuckle. Christen turns to look and find her rubbing her neck nervously, a habit. 

"Yeah... We'll see. I mean, nothing is ever for certain. So maybe I'll get those feelings for her once I actually start looking at her more than a friend you know?" Tobin explains and yawns, stretching. 

Christen nods, "I think I should head out now..." She slowly gets up and feels Tobin's eyes on her, "I got practice early tomorrow and I have a few things to take care of back home."

Tobin immediately gets up to walk Christen to the door. She stops by the kitchen and grabs her tiger lilies that had been resting inside a base the entire day.

"Here." Tobin grins and opens the door for Christen. Chris takes the flowers and steps out into the dim hallway. "We should do this again sometime." Tobin suggests, leaning on the door frame.

Christen smiles, "Yeah. I'll see when the rest of My household is open!" 

Tobin looks at the ground, "Oh... Yeah! Okay..."

"What?"

"I meant more of a you and I thing." Tobin admits shifting her weight from one foot to another.

Christen can't help put smirk a little, "Ah I see... Well didn't you want to get to know Alex and Ashlyn's friends more?"

Tobin just shakes her head and chuckles, "Yeah yeah. Okay. Next time lets all gather together. One friend down... I don't know how many more to go." 

They both giggle as Christen finally gets her feet to start moving. She gives a small wave and starts heading down the hallway.

"Bye Christen!" Tobin calls out one more time, making Christen turn around, gripping flowers and a big smile on her face.

"Bye Tobin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Again sorry for any mistakes but editing is hard on a cellphone.   
> I know this chapter doesn't do much but (slow burn spoiler) I want to at least kind of break the ice for them and not just be like 'oh they're best friends all of a sudden'... For now I just wanted to interact.


	4. Tear in My Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii... So... Sorry about the long wait and I know that this chapter in no way makes up for it since it's not much... But I promise I'm not working on the juicy stuff. Thanks to all the lovely commenters (I read every single one with a smile) and kudos! Hope you stick around!

~~/sometime you gotta bleed to know,  
that you're alive and have a soul.  
But it takes someone to come around to show you how./~~

 

The next week, it's game day on a Wednesday afternoon. Christen had promised Allie that she would throw away her 'dumb coffee machine' at home and go to her for coffee on game days from now on. 

This game was a pretty big deal. The semi-finals. One step closer to the league title and christen could almost see herself holding the glorious (but quite ugly) NWSL trophy. 

Christen stretches as she gets up from her queen sized bed. Every time she looks around her room, she remembers how small Tobin's apartment was, and wonders how much photographers really make. She would be lying if she said she didn't always have a life of comfort. She had. Her parents were wealthy, her career was good too, having an annual salary of 60,000 wasn't half bad. Yes, she realized she could have a house of her own, but she would be too lonely. So she decides to live with her best friends instead. It seems to be working quite well.

She quickly gets ready, putting on her jogging gear and curls into a bun, too lazy to tame the wild beast this early in the morning.

She opens her bedroom door and heads up the stairs to the first floor. She finds kelley chilling on the couch and eating cookie dough. Of course, she decides game day is the time to start eating junk food this early in the morning.

"Kel, put that down. We're going to the coffeeshop to get real food." Christen reaches down for her shoes next to the large couch. 

Kelley scrunched her nose, "I do what I want fool!" 

Christen rolls her eyes and slaps the now empty container from Kelley's hands and onto the couch.

"Get dressed." Christen chuckles

"Rude."

"I need my coffee."

Kelley scoffs, "Well I needed that cookie dough. But does anybody in this house ever care about what I need?" Kelley gets up slowly walking towards the hall. She throws her hands up in the air dramatically as she heads to her room at the end of the hall, "Nooooo!!!"

Christen chuckles at her best friend's need to be over-dramatic for shits and giggles. Some other people might not get her sarcasm and dramatic nature. It was pretty obvious to Christen when Kelley was kidding though. What wasn't obvious was when Tobin would 'kid around', but maybe it was because she isn't used to Tobin's humor just yet. Tobin's chill nature made it really hard to know when she was being sarcastic or just really not caring.

Two minutes later Alex and Alyssa come out of their rooms. All in lazy morning outfits. Christen is the only one dressed up for a work out.

Alex had sweatpants and sweatshirt, while Alyssa had a sweatshirt and shorts on.

"Using shorts while you still can aye?" Christen examines Alyssa's fleece shorts. 

She chuckles, "Of course. Who do you take me as?" 

Alex walks by and grabs the keys from the bowl in the living room. She decides to comment on Alyssa's statement, "As someone who just won't let summer die."

"Damn right."

They giggle as finally Kelley emerges from the depths of the hallway. Her hair is down, and unlike Alyssa and Alex, she's actually dressed in half decent clothes. Some black pants and white tank top cover her body with a denim jacket over top.

Alex dog whistles as they stand in the living room,  
"Why'd you get all dolled up?" 

Kelley rolls her eyes and looks down at her own outfit. She points to herself, "What this? It's not being dolled up."

It's Christen's turn to roll her eyes, "Kel we all know you don't put on decent pants before noon."

Kelley looks over at the clock hanging on the wall, "It's 11:30 so technically it's noon by the time we get there."

The three girls let Kelley off the hook. They all headed out and carpool in Alyssa's car. Alex and Alyssa in the front and Kelley and Christen in the back seats.

Christen nudged Kelley's side, "So why did you really dress decent?" 

Kelley looks over at the two front seat drivers who are distracted by choosing music, before getting closer to whisper to Christen.

"There was this hot chick-" kelley stops herself, "wait, don't tell anyone okay?"

Christen can't help but smile, bite her lip and nod, "okay, but I call teasing rights under oath of friendship."

"Okay." Kelley shrugs, "I'll just have to call teasing rights on you and Tobin." 

Christen groans and whispers, "There's nothing going on between me and her! We're just friends."

"With benefits." 

"Kel. Friends. That's all. And I intend to keep it that way."

Kelley gives Christen a disbelief look /bitch please/ "Okay. Tell your pants to hang on tight and not accidentally fall down and make you have accidental have sex by like... You know... You could trip over something." 

Christen can't help but giggle and be frustrated at the same time. Kelley is funny, and it makes it twice as hard to be mad at her. 

"Okay okay. Enough. I'll get my teasing on you later with this hot chick- which you haven't told me about yet?" Christen eyes Kelley, waiting for some sort of reaction, like a blush, or grin as one would have when talking about a crush. She remains with a poker face. 

She shrugs, "Right. Well I met her at that gathering when you went to talk to your lover-"

Christen was about to interject but calmed herself down. If it's not true, it shouldn't bother he what Kelley thinks. Or did it bother her because she wanted it to be true?

"-and she's really cool. Her name's Emily and I'm gonna try to get her digits today. Maybe invite her to the game." Kelley smiles to herself with a shrug and looks out the window.

Christen can't seem to wrap her mind around how nonchalant Kelley is about the whole thing. She wishes she were like that, relaxed, then maybe she could ask Tobin more bold questions such as 'would you like to go on a date with me?' but no. She can't, and she could start listing off reasons why she can't right now and why she hasn't been able to in the past with other girls. 

"Best of luck to you." Christen giggles and leans back in the seat. Almost there.

"And to you, my good friend." Kelley smirks but relaxes into the seat again as Alex cranks up the radio.

 

\-------------

"Chris that's her!" Kelley tugs on Christen's shirt as they take a seat in a booth by the window.

Christen only glances, knowing well enough who Emily was already. She seemed too sweet for Kelley. 

" Well go order us some coffee then?" Christen says, hoping Kelley takes this as an opportunity to make her 'move'.

Kelley was about to say something, but closes her mouth, then pushes Christen out of the seat so she can slip by and go get coffee for the rest of the housemates. 

"Does she even know what we want?" Alex asks concerned.

"Whatever she gets, it'll be better than that coffee machine back home." Alyssa laughs as she sits in the window seat and Alex sits next to her. Christen sits across from Alex, and as soon as Kelley comes back with coffee, she takes the window seat again, causing Christen to get up. 

Allie emerges from the back room Christen has seen before, but never gone into. It's a small little door behind the counter.

"Guys! I knew you wouldn't betray me." Allie places her hands on her hips with a wide grin.

"Never Amiga." Alex says as she sips her coffee cup dry. 

Allie smiles then quickly turns around and cups her hands around her mouth, "HARRY GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT HERE!" 

Christen is confused for a moment, but soon realized who 'Harry' really is as Tobin emerges from the back kitchen. 

Christen wishes she could snap a picture of Tobin when she see's her step out. She's wearing a black long sleeve, rolled up to her elbows, which showed off her forearm muscles. The shirt is tight in all the right places but also loose in a way that matches Tobin's laid-back personality. She wears black sweatpants rolled up and low on her hips with white adidas shoes. Her hair is in a messy bun to match her natural sleepy face. Christen licks her lips, trying to steady her mouth and throat closing as Tobin approaches the table.

Tobin leans on the desk with her hands, locking her shoulders. She looks around the table at everyone before giving a grin, "Why hello fellow gals." 

Christen smiled, thinking that would be one of the last things that would come from Tobin's mouth. 

Allie throws an arm around Tobin's shoulders, causing Tobin to let go of the table and stand up straight.

"Harry here is making some fresh pastries right now. Want some?" Allie looks around the group, "On the house." 

Tobin then interjects, "Uh, Harry?" She makes eye contact with Christen, a smirk dancing on her lips, "We've already given enough free food." 

 

Allie frowns before patting Tobin's back. Her mouth looked as if she was about to say something but was interrupted by Christen instead.

"-No, she's right."   
Everyone turned to frown at Christen, obviously annoyed for free food-blocking them. 

Allie laughed, "Harry here giving too much food away huh?" She clasped Tobin's shoulder.

"Something like that.", muttered Christen.

Tobin chuckled lightly. 

Allie looked between the two and raised an eyebrow, "Well I'll be... In the kitchen. Tell me if you guys want some of those fresh breads." She winked and left, only Tobin now hanging around in the semi-full coffee shop with a dirty apron.

"So how's the job?" Alex asks Tobin as she sips the rest of her coffee. Alyssa is on her phone and Kelley is too busy staring at Emily that Christen has to push her out of her trance on the girl.

"Make a move or I'll do it for you." Christen chuckles quietly so only Kelley can hear.

Kelley pouts, crossing her arms over her chest. She looks at the group, Alyssa now joining in on the conversation between the Two Amigas.

"I could say the same to you Pressy." Kelley wiggles her eyebrows in a way that makes Christen want to rip them right off her face.

"Kelley no."

"Kelley yes."

"Fine fine. I won't bother you about Emily." Christen whispers back, she manages to just catch Tobin's eyes on her but Tobin quickly looks back to Alyssa who's asking another question. This gives a weird sort of satisfaction to Christen,  
"Just don't bother me about my non-existent relationship with Tobin." 

"Deal."

Before Christen has time to join in on the conversation and actually get to talk to Tobin some, Allie calls her from the kitchen. Christen thinks she shouldn't be yelling around like a mad man in public but hey, it's her coffeeshop. 

"What?" Tobin yells back, the customers seem indifferent about the entire yelling scenario.

/must be daily visitors/ christen thinks. 

"Get back here!" Allie shoots back.

"I'm on break!" Tobin responds, looking over at the groups of girls in front of her and smirking before pushing Christen over, sitting in the booth and squishing Kelley up against the window.

"So did you enjoy the coffee?" Tobin asks.

Christen shrugs, brushing her arm against Tobin's warm body, "Better than the one we drank back home."

This causes Tobin to smirk, "That's because this is professional coffee."

Christen rolls her eyes at her friend's need to categorize the coffee as if it were that important.

"Tobin!" Allie calls once more, this time emerging from the kitchen to look at Tobin with a glare, "Casey is back here waiting for you and I don't want her doing a kick flip on my pastries."

/Casey/.

Tobin squirms a little before giving an apologetic smile, "I gotta go..." and starts getting up slowly, as if she didn't want to leave. Kelley is quick though, and grabs Tobin's wrist before she can walk away.

With a cheeky smile and wide eyes, Kelley suggest something that makes Christen want to show her 'two can play at that game' side, which she does, because she didn't know what else to do about what Kelley says next.

"Tobin! You should totally come to the game tonight. We got tix." Kelley says, holding onto her wrist still. Tobin's halfway up from the table but lingers as she looks around the table. Quickly everyone jumps in and says she should totally come. Everyone that is, except for Christen.

Tobin looks at her, waiting for approval that she should show up to the game. But then Christen think's about all the feelings Tobin brings to her whenever she's around, and she isn't sure whether it'd be a good idea to have those feelings during a game as important as a semi-final round. She, then again, does want to see Tobin and doesn't want to back track whatever budding friendship is starting to build. So, she says the only thing she can think of,

"And bring Emily too." Christen points at her being the counter, preparing some coffee. Kelley lets go of Tobin's wrist immediately and glares at Christen. Now they're on even grounds.

"Oh! Yeah good idea, she's actually a big soccer nerd... I could use some more shots of you guys in action too." Tobin nods, looking at nothing in particular as if she's planning out something in her head, "it's at 7pm right?"

"Right." Christen nods.

Tobin stands there, an arm wrapped around her mid section as the other hand is rubbing her chin slightly, "Hm. Alright. Just text me the details and ticket information."

"We'll get you vip seats!" Alex squeals, clearly excited her old college buddy will be attending an important, sold-out, semi-final game. 

Tobin nods, waving slightly before heading to the back kitchen, Christen's eyes never leaving her. 

"Drool much?" Kelley whispers, finishing off her coffee.

Christen send a glare, "Talk much?" She looked over at Emily, "Because I can do that as much as I drool too."

Kelley seemed to get the message and slowly sank back into a bubble.

"Alright, Christen are you headed to the beach?" Alyssa said getting up, Alex following right behind her.

Christen nodded, leaving her part of the half drunken coffee on the table. Kelley grabbed her wrist before she could stand and shook her head, turning to Alex and Alyssa who were ready to go and relax before it was game time. 

"She's actually sticking here for a bit with me. We wanna get to know Allie better." Kelley smiled.

"Yeah... More like Emily..." Christen muttered under her breath, loud enough for kelley to hear and earn her an elbow on the side. Christen winced.

"Okay...?" Alyssa said, "We'll meet you back at the house?" 

 

Christen and Kelley nodded quickly. The two others waved and headed out the shop. Once they were out of sight, Christen didn't waste anytime and turned to glare at Kelley.

"Kelley, I have to go. Ali and I are gonna have our yoga session."

"Yoga schmoga." Kelley rolled her eyes, "Operation Emily is a go."

Christen groaned, knowing she had to be there for Kelley as Kelley would be there for her. So she sat back, go comfortable for the remaining time she had to stay her to be Kelley's anchor as she tried to plan ways to initiate a conversation with the blonde. 

It was hard to relax when Christen had to hear Tobin's laugh every few minutes. Usually she loved her laugh, but something about this was just itching at her skin. She tried to shake her head out of it and focus on how to help Kelley instead. She couldn't. 

"So-" more of Tobin's laughter made Christen grip the table, "What are you planning on doing?"

Kelley bit her lip, as if she was hiding something.

"What?"

Kelley looked up at her like a puppy, "Well... I was thinking we could have a celebration party? I mean if we win- which we obviously will so what if-"

Christen rubbed her temples, "Kelley! I don't want random people coming to trash MY house after a long day and mort likely tiring game!"

Kelley groaned, shaking Christen who sat beside her, "I know! But come on! It's the only place I could actually make a move. Not in this coffee place while she's working!"

Christen frowned, wanting to help her friend but also not wanting to have to deal with the aftermath of a party. 

Sighing, she turned to her pleading friend,  
"Alright-"

"-YES!-"

"-BUT! Only if we win... And also you owe me one."

Kelley nodded eagerly, "Totally! Anything."

Christen eyed her, knowing if it were her in Kelley's position, Kelley would do anything to help her friend out on a small crush. In this case, Kelley thought Christen needed help with Tobin, but Christen is too damn stubborn to even think about it. She doesn't need Kelley's help because there's nothing to help with. Tobin was back there laughing it up with /Casey/ and Christen shouldn't, couldn't, and wouldn't let that bother her. 

With a strong face, she got up from the booth,

"I'm heading out now." She said, not really wanting to hear Tobin anymore, "I'll meet you guys at the house later after Ali and Ash drop me off before the game okay?"

Kelley nodded and got up quickly to hug her best friend, "Thank you!" She laid a big sloppy smooch on Christen, making her squirm and wipe at her cheek.

 

\--------------------

 

The game was a big hustle to say the least. Christen didn't get to start, which really bothered her, but she was soon subbed in on the 30th minute. She managed to tie up the score 1-1 right before halftime.

She knew Tobin was there in the VIP boxes with Ash, Emily, Serv, and Allie. She could /feel it/, but she did everything in her will power to not look up into the stadium seats. If she did, and their eyes met, she doesn't know how she'd play. Tobin's eyes always brought a buckle to her knees, and that was the last thing she needed in this tight, tied-up match.

She quickly scurried into the locker rooms, hearing her name being called by a couple people. She hoped one of those voices was from Tobin, but she was too scared to look up and accidentally meet her eyes.

 

Once they were in the locker room, resting and patting each other on the back, Alex gave a small speech of encouragement as they headed out again.

Christen's mind went blank. She wasn't thinking about anything except this soccer game in front of her. This is all she needed to focus on for the time being. Her yoga came in handy whenever a moment came in which she needed to really concentrate. This is one of those moments. 

Christen managed to give Alex a great assist earning the winning goal on the 85' minute. 

Everyone cheered once the final whistle blew and they scurried to the middle of the field, doing their usual celebration and jumping together in a circle around the field. 

Christen gulped after a few minutes of celebrating, knowing what came next- facing everyone who came to the game. 

Alex and Ali headed to the locker room immediately, obviously not willing to wait to see their boyfriends and girlfriends. Kelley and Christen on the other hand, were completely the opposite, staying back as long as possible- the fans requesting their autographs helped.

It helped until she reached the end of the sideline, a warm voice above her.

"Got time for one more?" 

Christen gulped and looked up slowly, locking eyes with the deep honey ones. 

Tobin wore her usual beanie and hoodie. Christen couldn't see her legs but she was sure they looked great under tight jeans-

"Yeah." Christen smirked, "what do you want me to sign?"

This made Tobin laugh, "Well not for me, Allie wants you to sign this picture I took of you last game so she could hang it up in her coffeeshop." Tobin rubbed her neck nervously and got the picture out from her orange bag. 

It was nearly framed. It /was/ a good picture, even if it did lead to Christen being mad at the flash, the flash added a new glow to Christen's intense face. She blushed at the thought of Tobin observing her and thinking she was worthy of a professional photo. 

"You can sign the frame." Tobin smiled. 

Christen nodded and gripped her marker, carefully signing the white frame. 

She handed it back to Tobin, almost getting away, but Ashlyn showed up behind Tobin, spilling all the beans.

"So Kelley said something about a celebration party? Is it still down?" Ashlyn said, the rest of the VIP seated people showing up. Allie was instantly thrilled when Tobin handed her the framed photo.

"This is going to go right behind the counter where people look at the menus. They'll have to see this." Allie smirked, making Christen giggle and be shy due to her humbled nature. 

Kelley showed up soon after, overhearing her name.

"Yeah! Party!!!" Kelley pumped her fists. 

Emily smiled, "Yeah I got the text. We're all invited right?" She looked around at the group of friends.

Kelley confirmed with a 'hell yeah', making Christen's stomach drop realizing Tobin was part of that group of friends. 

Kelley wrapped an arm around Christen as she pulled her back from everyone above them and started heading to the locker rooms. 

Once they were far enough from earshot, Christen turned to Kelley and gave her a firm punch to the arm, making her let go. 

"Ouch!" Kelley whined, rubbing her arm, "What the hell was that for?"

Christen crossed her arms and continued walking, not bothering to answer. 

Kelley rolled her eyes, tailing right behind her stubborn friend, "Chris. I don't owe you anything anymore."

Christen laughed in disbelief, "Yeah you do."

"No. I don't. I just paid you back the favor."

"How so?"

Kelley smirked as they made it into the locker room. They were beside each other as they got changed down to their underwear to shower before heading back to the house to 'party hardy' as Kelley said. 

"This is the perfect opportunity for you to talk to Tobin. I know you want to but you just settle for talking behind your phone screen." Kelley shook her finger in a sassy manner, "Nah. Not anymore. It's time to be a real adult and have conversations with people face to face."

This made Christen literally facepalm. Her voice was muffled by the hand over her face,   
"It's a party. Everyone's gonna be drunk and loud. How am I supposed to have a conversation?"

Kelley smirked as she grabbed her towel from her locker and headed to the showers,  
"Sometimes the best conversations happen when drunk. Live a little." Kelley gave her one last nudge as Christen took one big breath to steady herself.

She could do this. She really needed to get to know Tobin anyways. How could she be friends with someone she couldn't talk face to face to? But then again, how could she talk to her face to face when her knees shivered just at the thought of those brown orbs staring into hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me at BNWoso.tumblr.com  
> Thanks for reading and as always- any feedback is appreciated and welcomed with big open arms!


	5. Daft Pretty Boys

Once Christen was done with her shower, she decided to let her curly hair dry naturally, not bothering to straighten it in the locker room. Ali and Alex were nowhere in sight, most likely already outside and on the way to their house with their significant others. 

She finds Kelley sitting on the bench once she's got all her dirty clothes in a bag. Kelley jams her feet into her sneakers and gets up, flicking her ponytail, "You ready?" She asks Christen.

Christen nods, looking into her locker one more time before looking back at Kelley. She has a devilish smirk playing on her lips as she picks up her bag, following Christen outside. Christen's eyes went wide as she was met with Emily and Tobin just standing there on their phones.

"Hey guys!" Kelley greets them as if it were no   
big deal, making Christen realize this is why she had such a smirk plastered on her face earlier, "Ready to go?" 

Tobin and Emily look up from their phones as they nod.

"So is your car parked around here or...?" Tobin spoke looking around and putting her orange bag on one shoulder. 

Christen grew confused, "Our car-"

"It's just around the corner!" Kelley interjected nudging Christen slightly. Christen furrowed her eyebrows at the freckled girl, "Follow me."

Kelley and Christen began walking ahead as Tobin and Emily followed. 

"Kelley." Christen whispered after a second of walking, Emily and Tobin in conversation, "Why are they following us to our car?"

Kelley looked down at the ground and gave a nervous grin, "Well-" she looked back to see if they were still being followed by the two girls, "I kinda told them I'd give them a ride..."

"Why?"

"Allie had to go to a meeting about the branch of coffee shops or whatever tomorrow morning... And she was Emily and Tobin's ride. Plus they're coming to the party anyways." Kelley shrugged. It shouldn't be a big deal but it was to Christen. She didn't want Tobin to walk into the house without it being tidy.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Kelley sighed and pulled the keys out of her pocket. They finally reached their car. Christen never got an answer as Kelley got into the driver's seat.

"You can take shotgun Emily." Kelley smiled sweetly and Emily shyly nodded and went to the passenger seat. 

Christen rubbed her forehead and finally turned around to face what she had been avoiding all night. Tobin stood there cooly, rocking back and forth.

"What side do you want?" Christen looked at the back car doors.

Tobin seemed to get out of her trance of staring off into space and looked between Christen and the car, "Oh. Uh. I don't care."

Christen gave a small smile, "Okay, get in." She got into the left side as Tobin got in the right. They closed the doors and soon they were off back to their house. 

 

Christen's hand lingered in the middle seat of the back. Tobin's bag that was resting on her lap swerving to the side when Kelley took a sharp turn, sending the bag over Christen's side.

"I- sorry." Tobin said reaching for her bag. Her hand lightly brushed over Christen's and Christen could've sworn she saw Tobin's eyes widen at the contact before quickly going back to her cool nature, her bag back in her lap. 

 

\---------

 

They reached the house, which was in full swing.   
About five cars were already parked outside and Kelley cheered 'party hardy' and parked. She quickly got out and opened the door for Emily, dragging her inside the house and leaving Christen with Tobin behind. 

Tobin gave a small smile as she got out of the car.

"So Kelley really does love parties huh?" Tobin questions. 

Christen's eyes remain on the ground as they finally reach the house. She twists the knob and enters a real party. There was beer pong, paint twister, and even a couple of people playing pool.

Tobin follows her inside and nods in approval, "Nice." Tobin smiles. 

Christen looked over and returns the smile, "Sorry this is the first time you get to see my place and it's already trashed by hooligans."

Tobin laughs as they make their way into the living room where it's more quiet. Christen looks around at a few people chatting, they were all mostly Ashlyn and Servando's friends.

Christen looks at Tobin who is just following her in, "Want to put the bag in my room? So it won't get broken or something.." 

Tobin smirks at this, decided to torture Christen even more than she already had during the game and make a joke, "Oh moving things to the bedroom already?"

Christen groans, "Shut up and come on." She grabs Tobin's wrist as they make their way around the couple of people standing around. There's even a few people in the hall.

Once she reaches the stairs, she looks back and releases Tobin's wrist. Tobin follows down the steps and they take a left into Christen's room.

"Welcome." Christen turns on the lights and grabs a hairband from her dresser in the far wall. Tobin lingers in the doorway, looking around at all the furniture.

She lets out a chuckle as she steps fully into the room, "Nice."

Christen nods and puts her hair into a bun. She then starts taking her shirt off to get into something more comfortable.

"Oh!" She hears Tobin, making her smirk. "Sorry, I didn't know you were about to like.. Strip."

Christen pulls a loose shirt over her head and turns around to see sweet Tobin with a hand over her eyes. She steps closer and finally places a hand on Tobin's over her eyes. She tries to rip it off of her face but Tobin doesn't budge.

"Are you dressed?" Tobin asks, still not moving her hand. This make Christen laugh, such a small gesture that she does everyday in front of people and Tobin is so cautious about it.

"You're sweet." Christen smiles and takes her hand off of Tobin's. She realizes no matter what she does, Tobin won't remove her hand from over her eyes. 

Slowly, Tobin spreads her fingers to peak and find Christen walking around the room trying to find something. Tobin lets out a sigh and finally puts her hand down, messing with her bag straps now. Her face was burning. Out of all things she thinks she would see today- Christen Press being shirtless wasn't one of them.

"There it is." Christen looks over her shoulder and grabs her charger to plug her phone into the wall.

She walks over to Tobin afterwards who is still only looking around, a couple of steps into the room. 

"You can set the bag on my bed." Christen smiles. Tobin nods and places it there. 

Just as Tobin places her bag on the bed, it rings. Tobin seems to avoid the bag, but Christen can't help and question her.

"Are you gonna answer that?" 

Tobin scratches her neck and looks at the bag, begging for it to stop ringing. After two more rings Christen sighs and reaches for her bag, taking out the phone and handing it to Tobin who just places it on her back pocket. Christen raises an eyebrow, but the phone finally stops making noise.

"Are you hungry? I think Kelley and Alex are grilling something in the backyard." Christen asks. 

"Yeah-" the phone begins ringing again, making Christen groan internally. 

"Just answer it Tobs."

"Tobs?" 

"Answer."

Tobin rolls her eyes a bit and finally answers. There's heavy footsteps upstairs, indicating that people have probably started a dance floor in the middle of Christen's living room. She'll have to whack Kelley for this later.

"Casey?"

Christen fumbled with her fingers as she heard the name from the Coffeeshop earlier. A big weight of jealousy came down on Christen the minute she heard it. She tried to busy herself and not listen to the conversation that Tobin was having, but trying to clean her already clean room was useless.

"Uh-Huh.... No. Case stop.... Okay."

More silence, she could hear a faint voice coming from the phone until someone turned up the music downstairs, drowning out whatever 'Case' was saying. Christen groaned to herself for being so nosy. 

"Okay okay. I'm sorry... I will.... Casey... Okay. Bye." Tobin ended the call and Christen could finally stop pretending to be busy.

Christen turned around from fixing the end table on the side of her bed. Tobin reached over to put her backpack over her shoulder.

"Hey... Listen..." Tobin spoke, biting her bottom lip slightly and running her tongue over it to soothe her chapped lips which drove Christen crazy.

"What?" Christen looked into her eyes trying to search for any signs of what Tobin was thinking.

Tobin just put her phone away, scratching her neck in that nervous manner,  
"Would it be too much to ask for a ride? I forgot I had to do something tonight... I was only planning on going to the game, not the after-party.. Casey-"

Christen's jealousy broke through as she interrupted Tobin's rambling at the sound of another girl's name.

"It's fine." Christen looked away from Tobin when she realized her tone came out harsh. She spoke again, more softly this time, "Where do you need to go?" She cleared her throat to stop her voice from shaking.

Tobin frowned, "It's okay if you don't want to give me a ride. I don't wanna waste any gas."

Christen managed to frown even more than she already had.   
"No. No, it's not a problem really. Sorry I was snappy."

Tobin nodded, filling the room with more silence and not willing to look Christen in the eyes.  
"Is everything okay?" Tobin looked up after a couple of seconds of looking down at the floor.

Tobin just nodded, gripping the bag a little tighter. 

Christen sighed, not wanting to push her and drive her away. She ran her hand through her hand.

"I just need to go home." Tobin said, "You know where that is now don't you?" A small smile played on her lips.

Christen returned the smile and chuckled, "Yeah. The one time I've been there." 

They smiled shyly before Tobin spoke up, "Maybe you could come more often?"

Christen smiled, but her inner thoughts got the best of her and in a millisecond, the smile disappeared. It wasn't a good idea to go to Tobin's apartment where they would be alone. If she was planning to build this friendship with Tobin, she needed to stay in public to keep her from doing something dumb to mess this up.

If she went into Tobin's apartment, she would start digging herself a hole right then and there. Christen was trying really hard not to put Tobin on a pedestal, but it was hard to not fall for this girl, even if they didn't know each other too well. The pull on the moon to the earth was getting stronger everyday. Maybe infatuation was a better word for Christen's feelings.

"Let's go then!" Christen clapped her hands together and pushed past Tobin to reach the stairs. She heard small footsteps following her until she reached the door.

They got into the car and started to drive off to Tobin's apartment. The whole time Tobin was glued to her phone, so Christen really had no time to bother her with any questions, even if they were eating her inside. Instead, she decided to play some music. Bad Suns came on her shuffle playlist as she started tapping her fingers to the music.

~//There's a dangerous kind of cool about you  
But she didn't, no, she didn't know nothing  
Now she swims right past his eyes  
Where she didn't, no, she didn't find nothing

You look so pretty from afar

Like the gates of heaven are open now  
And my one true love has just waltzed right out  
Yeah, there's one thing about me that you should know  
That I can't help from speaking my mind

Girl, you waste your time on daft pretty boys  
With all the time in the world for chasing pretty girls  
Yeah, you waste your time on daft pretty boys  
I've got no time to waste on another pretty face//~

 

\---------

"Thanks Chris." Tobin smiled sweetly while looking around the inside of the car to make sure she had everything. 

Christen nodded and looked at the apartment complex entrance. There was the girl. Casey, she had learned was her name. She still looked as good as ever and as impatient as ever too. Her arms were crossed and her foot was tapping as she waited outside of a locked lobby door. 

Christen couldn't help but be a little glad Casey was probably cold and impatient- as petty as it sounds.

"Anytime. See you around?" Christen said hopefully. She truly didn't know when would be the next time she'd see Tobin.

Tobin nodded, "Yea. I'll call, text?" She opened the door and quickly shot a small smile before closing the door shut, walking away.

Christen wanted to look away, knowing full well what was probably coming.

Casey unwrapped her arms from herself and instead wrapped them around Tobin. Tobin hugged back, pulling away and placing a small kiss on the girl's cheek while rubbing her arm up and down.

Christen groaned, quickly putting the car into drive and stepping on the gas.

-

Once Christen got back to the party, she didn't feel so happy. Even though everyone around her was having a good time, dancing out from a well deserved victory, Christen couldn't fit in. She wanted to go to her room and sulk. She didn't know how Tobin could affect her mood so easily but she managed to do it every time.

"Hey there you are!" Kelley pushed through some people to reach Christen at the door way. She was clearly tipsy but the way she was walking. "Where's Tobin?"

Christen wanted to just throw a fit and explain how jealous she was actually feeling. She played it nonchalant on the outside though, and placed the keys on the living room bowl.

Christen shrugged, "She had other plans. I took her back home."

"Oooo so you took her home eh?" Kelley wiggled her eyebrows but Christen was in no mood for it right now.

"Yeah. Into the arms of her actual lover. Happy?" Christen hung her jacket up and started walking down the steps towards her room.

Before she was even halfway down the steps, she felt a tug on her arm. Of course, it was Kelley.

"Whoa whoa! There's still a lot of party to party in? Why don't you join on the fun?" Kelley gave her a pouty face and big puppy eyes. "It'll help you get your mind off things. We're about to play a drinking game!"

/Alcohol. I could use some of that./

Christen sighed, feeling like she'll regret this later. She nodded, and Kelley squealed, pulling her into the living room where a group had gathered with shot glasses. 

About two rounds into the truth or dare (take a shot if you picked truth for being a 'lil bitch' as Kelley said- or picking dare, free of shot but if you don't complete the dare then it's two shots)

To say the least- Christen picked truth too often from her shy personality. She was a lightweight too, quickly feeling the alcohol get into her veins. The next round- Christen decided she needed to stop taking so many shots and decided to go for dares. 

She ended up having to jump in the backyard pool, make out with some guy, and then give a girl this lap dance.

Now the kissing with the guy did nothing to Christen, it was sloppy. Her having to lap dance on this girl with piercing eyes though, had her insides burning. 

After the lap dance, everyone decided to call it quits and spread out into the party again. The girl sitting underneath Christen didn't leave her gaze on Christen as she got off her lap. Her eyes looked hungry, and almost mischievous. Christen didn't know what to make of it, so she shyly went back into the party and drank some more.

Why should she sulk anyways? If Tobin was going to have a good time tonight she might as well too. 

Everything was a blur for the rest of the night.

 

\-----------------------

Next thing Christen knew, birds were chirping outside and a hard knocking came to her door. Christen stirred and stretched but soon retreated into a ball when she felt skin on her skin.

She looked over, cringing slightly. She knew what had happened as soon as she looked around the room, clothes laying on the floor. /Her own/ clothes laying on the ground instead of her body. 

She quietly got up, trying not to wake the girl beside her. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and clean shirt as she gripped her head and walked slowly to the door.

She swung it open to find Kelley there with a wide grin.

"What the fuck do you want?" Christen asked, already too hung over and stressed by the girl laying in her bed as they spoke.

"Whoa. Rough night huh?"

"What do you want?"

Kelley grinned wider, "Well I know something that'll bring up your spirits!" 

Christen stepped out of the room and gently closed the door to her room, not wanting to deal with the girl right now. 

"What would that be?" Christen crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. Kelley smiled and yawned.

"You have a little visitor! Come upstairs. She brought some breakfast!"

Christen's stomach dropped at the possibility of the 'little visitor' being Tobin. What if she saw Christen having a one night stand? Would she think any differently of her?

Christen internally cursed as she walked up the stairs, following closely behind Kelley. 

Her nightmare came true as she was met with a pair of honey eyes and bright smile in her dinning room. Christen didn't know whether to be happy or anxious or pissed that Tobin seemed to have the worst timing ever. 

She slowly walked up and say down across from Tobin. A couple of cupcakes and coffee cups were spread out around the table. 

"Hi." Tobin spoke first as the both girls finally sat down. "I hope you guys don't mind me coming and giving you a thanks for last night."

Christen looked from the breakfast, to Tobin, and to Kelley as she shrugged. 

They all jumped a little as they heard a huge bang downstairs. 

"No problem!" Christen tried to cover up the noise she already knew was the hungover girl in her bed. "These look great! Allie make them?"  
She nervously reached over for a cupcake and prayed the girl would somehow manage to stay in her room until Tobin left.

Tobin raised an eyebrow at both Kelley and Christen.

"Is everything cool?" 

Kelley looked over at Christen. The green eyes called out for help in panic to the freckled girl. Kelley had no idea there was someone else in Christen's room at the moment. She probably didn't see Christen for the rest of the night since she and Emily got along just fine last night. 

In fact, a little /too/ fine, Christen recalls the moaning coming from Kelley's room as the girl and her made out in the hallway just outside Kelley's room. 

"Everything's fine." Christen tried to give her most convincing smile but there was another banging noise. 

/Damn can this girl really not keep it together for a couple minutes? I should've have woken her up and told her to sneak out or something./ 

Kelley's eyes went wide as she got up from the table and started to open a nearby storage closet. She pulled out a bat and held her finger to her mouth as she started to walk down to Christen's room.

"Dammit." Christen cursed as she started to follow Kelley, stopping her before she managed to reach the stairs. They were out of Tobin's sight, and hopefully hearing range. 

"Kelley stop! Don't go in there."

Kelley seemed offended and surprised,  
"Chris, if someone's breaking into our house I think I can handle it."

"It's not a burglar." Christen angrily whispered.  
"I... Might have gotten a bit drunker than usual last night."

Kelley furrowed her eyebrows together as she tried to figure out why there was noises coming from Christen's room. Christen waited patiently, hoping Kelley would understand and not have to admit she had a one night stand out loud. Christen wasn't like that, but the emotions seemed to get the best of her last night. And now, she didn't want Tobin to think she was like that. Though it shouldn't matter since Tobin isn't her romantic interest, she couldn't help but care so much about the opinion of one person. Not just any person, but Tobin who could managed to single-handedly turn Christen's world upside down with one look, or touch, or word.

This is the biggest "crush" Christen has ever experience, and she can't help but be afraid that I could turn into something more. She can't deal with it all. She's never been able to. The possibility of love still scared Christen shitless. She wanted to prove to herself last night that she wasn't being pulled by Tobin's gravity. She wanted to prove she could get out of Tobin's powerful orbit whenever she wanted. 

"Okay? We all did Chris, but right now I need to take care of-"

Kelley's opportunities at knocking out a burglar today came to a close as a small voice spoke up from beside them. The girl had managed to climb the stairs, ending up in front of the two.

"Chris? You weren't in bed when I woke up so... I thought you'd be up here." The girl spoke nonchalantly as she looked between the two girls who seemed to both be in shock as they just stared at the unknown girl in front of them.

Kelley slowly turned around to face Christen, her mouth slightly agape.

"Right... Sorry. I was up here. I didn't mean to wake you."

The girl suddenly shifted her attention to the smell of coffee and pastries.

"Oh you made me breakfast? How sweet!" The girl said as she made her way around the house, following the pastry smell. 

Kelley just stared at Christen with a shocked look as Christen looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Christen... What the hell did-"

"Just. Not now Kelley." Christen quickly started to chase after the girl, who was wearing her shirt and shorts around her house. 

"Okay." Kelley said as she followed Christen back to the dining room, "but you have some explaining to do later."

As Christen rounded the corner, she saw the girl talking to Tobin who seemed to be confused, and if Christen wasn't wrong, seemed a little hurt as well. Christen's heart jumped at the idea of Tobin being jealous, but quickly pushed the feeling back down.

"Hey." Christen said as she made her way to the two girls. 

Tobin just looked at Christen with a blank face, not really knowing how to react in a room with Christen and her one night stand.

"Hey! I just met your friend here. She brought the breakfast? That's so cute you even ordered it."

Tobin's face turned from confused to angry quickly, "Order? No. This pastries are-" 

"Her name is Tobin!" Christen quickly interjected, wanting to just please the girl and make her leave as soon as possible. "Tobin this is..."  
She couldn't remember the girl's name.

"Shannon. Yeah I know." Tobin interrupted, she didn't look Christen in the eyes as she shuffled in her seat. "She introduced herself just fine."

Tobin quickly got up, "Sorry." She said as she gathered her leather jacket from behind her chair. 

Kelley just stood there awkwardly watching the whole scene unfold.

"I didn't realize I came at the wrong time... I gotta go." Tobin said, putting on her jacket but leaving the pastries as she walked to the door. Again, Christen had to chase.

"Tobs wait." She followed Tobin who was walking at an incredible speed, it had Christen jogging a little.

Tobin managed to make it outside, Christen close behind.

"Tobin!" Christen tried again to get her attention. She finally reached her arm out to tug on Tobin's.

"What?" Tobin said clearly annoyed, turning around. "I think need to go attend to your little one night stand."

Christen was a little hurt by her tone, "Why? She's supposed to leave soon. Just stay awhile."

Tobin bit her lip and shook her head. "No... No I shouldn't have come. I just wanted to thank you for the ride last night." She pulled her arm away from Christen's grip and started to walk slowly away to a black motorcycle. 

Christen let Tobin go this time, deciding it was best if she waited until another time to talk about her slight accident last night. She should go take care of Shannon first and then talk to Tobin who seemed to be disturbed. Christen was just as disturbed as Tobin from last night. 

"Okay... Well. I'll see you later?" Christen said once Tobin mounted her motorcycle and our her hair up in a bun.

Tobin only returned a small smile and nod before putting on her helmet and starting the motorcycle. Christen started to walk back towards the house and watched Tobin ride off.

They'll definitely have to talk later.  
Maybe things have changed. Tobin probably thinks that Christen sleeps around now, since they haven't known each other a long time yet, it's the first impression Tobin has of Christen's relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo what's cooking? Sorry this took so long... But anyways! Remember how i said it was gonna be a slow burn? Yeah I changed my mind. There's some preath coming very soon :) not before a little drama though so please hang in there through the ups AND downs!  
> As always you can reach out to me @ bnwoso.tumblr.com  
> Thanks for reading and comments/kudos are very much appreciated and motivate me to write chapters faster! x


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